Written By Aneesa PA
Sixty-year-old Janaki reached the Family Health Centre at Elanad in Thrissur district at 7 am on Thursday to get vaccinated after spot registration. But little did she know that the Kerala Health Department had scrapped its spot registration coverage for Covid-19 vaccination a day earlier. “If they had informed us earlier, it would have been easier. I am getting old and had to depend on the bus to reach here. I can’t come here every day,” mentioned Janaki, who had come right here from Vennur village, 5 km away from the well being centre.
She mentioned that she needed to return house on Saturday as effectively with out getting vaccinated. “The hospital said there was no vaccine available there.”
The cancellation of the spot registration coverage on Wednesday led to confusion in a number of components of the state.
“Until yesterday, the public could register with the help of Rapid Response Team (RRT) for the vaccination and complete it in the respective vaccination centres that they prefer. But following the rush at vaccination centres, the health department’s new order made registration through COWIN portal mandatory to get the vaccination at a fixed day and time,” mentioned Dr. Jafar Sadiq, Medical Officer in-charge of Vaccination on the Family Health Centre, Elanad.
Almost 1,000 folks confirmed up Thursday morning on the Family Health Centre at Elanad, mentioned a employees nurse, who requested anonymity.
“Most of them were unaware of the new rule that the department imposed yesterday. Hence, they came for spot registration. But they dispersed within an hour as soon as we explained the new situation,” she mentioned.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive within the state is coordinated with the general public by native our bodies with the assistance of RRT (Rapid Response Team), consisting of ASHA staff and well being staff.
“We went to take the vaccine only because ASHA workers demanded us to do it yesterday, we thought the registration process was complete as we received a reference ID on our mobile phones,” mentioned a 47-year-old lady requesting anonymity.
Limy CK, Health Inspector on the Family Health Centre mentioned one of many causes for the confusion might need been the dearth of time.
“We had a meeting for the whole department including ASHA workers at the Panchayat at 2 pm yesterday. But they might not have got the time to tell the public about the new policy in that short period,” she mentioned.
According to her, the well being system can be grappling with an absence of employees and vaccines scarcity at the moment. “The vaccines were not delivered to us until Wednesday evening since Saturday. So, we stopped the vaccination programme for four days,” she mentioned.
She additionally mentioned, at present there are solely 9 well being employees (Doctors not included) for the Elanad Family Health Centre and close by Pazhayannur Community Health Centre within the district.
“With this staff, we are running RT-PCR test, immunisation for kids, and regular works apart from vaccination,” she mentioned.