PATNA: Government-run hospitals and private health facilities across the state have buckled up to inoculate people above the age of 45 years from Thursday. They have stocked up on vaccine vials, installed additional counters to cope with the rush of beneficiaries and roped in computer operators to feed fresh data into the Co-WIN portal.
According to sources, state health minister Mangal Pandey will be one of the first people to take a vaccine shot at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) at 11am on Thursday.
“After the minister’s
inoculation, all people above the age of 45 years, irrespective of their comorbidities, will be vaccinated,” medical superintendent of the IGIMS, Dr Manish Mandal, told this reporter and added that the hospital’s target would be to vaccinate at least 250 people every day.
Adequate number of health workers have also been deployed for the mass vaccination drive at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Patna. The hospital’s nodal officer for Covid, Dr Sanjeev Kumar, said, “We have enough space in our waiting, vaccination and observation rooms.”
Meanwhile, Patna district magistrate (DM) Chandrashekhar Singh held a meeting with the civil surgeon and other senior officials on Wednesday. They discussed ways to ramp up Covid testing facilities at 62 centres and vaccination at 162 sites.
The DM asked the officials to make all necessary arrangements for the vaccination drive from Thursday. He directed them to ensure that the teachers of all government and private schools, their family members, and parents of schoolchildren above the age of 45 years are inoculated. He also told them to rope in vikas mitras, panchayat secretaries and revenue officials to motivate more and more people to visit the vaccination centres.