Nagpur: Having been left out in the Covid vaccination programme so far, 72 resident doctors of Vidya Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (VSPM) Dental College and Research Centre at Digdoh, Hingna, are a worried lot as their administration has allegedly said that now there are no chances of facilitating the jab for them.
The residents said their college administration had collected details from them in November last year for vaccine registration. “But we haven’t been vaccinated in the last 22 days. We were shocked to find our names missing in the list of registered healthcare workers. Our administration says government has now stopped the registration process. But vaccination is going on everywhere, as per media reports,” they said.
The revelation comes at a time when the state government, Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) are continuously appealing all institutions to register all healthcare workers for the vaccination.
The resident doctors on the condition of anonymity told TOI, “All professors, clerical staff and even attendants from our college got vaccinated. We are postgraduate students of this college. We have examined and treated patients throughout the pandemic.”
The students claimed that apart from daily work at the college, they have worked at Covid testing centres of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Students of first year said they worked from August till two weeks of September last year. Students of second year said they took over from there and continued till two weeks of October. Final year students worked for remaining days of October and up to November 14, they said.
“We even did not go to our homes during festivals including Diwali because of Covid duty,” they said.
Dean of NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, Dr Kajal Mitra who is also-in charge of entire campus including Dental College, said, “Authorities had sought list within a deadline. After inquiring, I learnt that Dental College submitted list of resident doctors very late. We have received the list now. We will send it to authorities and ensure their registration. I was not aware of the issue earlier and will personally see that all students are registered and vaccinated,” he said.
The officials of ZP and NMC said, “We accepted data from October till launch of vaccination programme on January 16. Before launch, 31,377 healthcare workers were registered. More were registered even after commencement of vaccination and now the number has crossed 40,000 in the district. New registration could not happen for few days in Co-WIN application, which has been resolved by the government now,” they said.
ZP has provided one centre at Lata Mangeshkar Hospital since beginning of the vaccination programme. For the last few days, there are two centres there.
-----------------------------
IAN
* Registration of healthcare workers started in October last year
* Vaccination programme launched on January 16
* 31,377 were registered before the launch. Number crossed 40,000 as registration continued
* NMC and ZP are urging all to take the jab
* VSPM Dental College administration did not register 72 resident doctors while professors, clerks, attendants etc got the jab
* Residents examined and treated patients throughout pandemic, worked at NMC testing centres from August to November
* According to residents, administration says no chances of vaccination as government has stopped registration