NEW DELHI: Both beneficiaries and healthcare workers at various hospitals have raised concerns over the operation of vaccination centres in late hours amid movement restrictions since 10pm.
They argue that people are coming from far-flung areas using public transport. Even with an e-pass, it will be extremely difficult to return home without public transport, said a beneficiary.
Doctors and nurses at both private and civic hospitals pointed out that if the movement restrictions continued for long, even the staffers coming from the rest of NCR would face difficulty and might resist working late.
“Hindu Rao Hospital in the north and Swami Dayanand in east Delhi are operational for 12 hours and Girdhari Lal Maternity Hospital for 24 hours,” said a senior doctor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation. “We are ready to divide the staff in shifts and even work longer hours as we have limited staff. But how will we find any mode of communication after 10pm? Finding taxis, autos or reaching nearby Metro stations will be a challenge even if we carry identity cards.”
Healthcare workers also claimed that the footfall in late hours was comparatively low and there were barely four-five visitors till 9pm.
“We may have thought about making some arrangement for the stay of staffers coming from other parts of NCR at the hospital but we don’t know how long this exercise will continue. Also, a Covid ward may soon be opened in our hospital again, so we can’t afford to allow people to stay back,” said a nodal officer of a private hospital in east Delhi.
Considering that the turnout response is good at local dispensaries, nursing homes and mother and child care centres, doctors suggested starting vaccination facilities in neighbourhoods like Gurgaon. “We are getting good response at hospitals such as Purnima Sethi Multi-Specialty Hospital where the turnout is more than 400, but we have even better response at local dispensaries where 150-200 people are coming for vaccination. Since these are located close to households, people don’t fear catching infection unlike in big hospitals,” said Narendra Chawla, leader of house at South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Procuring an e-pass won’t be easy, said north corporation mayor Jai Prakash, who claimed to have written to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for reviewing the extension decision. Despite repeated attempts, Delhi government didn’t respond.