76-yr-old man forced to carry ailing wife to vaccination centre

Coimbatore: Exposing the lack of basic facilities in primary health centres (PHCs) and apathy of health workers, a 76-year-old man had to carry his 69-year-old wife in his arms to the centre to get vaccinated against Covid-19 on Wednesday.
This is when thousands of wheelchairs, which were used for the disabled people to enter the voting centres, lay unused at the Government College of Technology, hardly 8km away.
The district collector and public health department said they would look into the issue.
Jaganathan, a resident of Sri Ram Nagar, said he had gone to the PHC at Thudiyalur on Wednesday to get himself and his wife inoculated. The elderly man told TOI that he had approached a PHC doctor to get a wheelchair for his wife. “The duty doctor said they didn’t have wheelchairs for vaccine beneficiaries and told me that we should have brought one from home, if required one. None of the staff members offered to help me carry her inside.”
Jaganathan was left with no other option, but to carry his wife Vijaylakshmi, who has been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for years and unable to walk, himself to the PHC. “Other people there offered to help, but I chose to carry her myself.” The couple had to then wait another 90 minutes to get inoculated. “The only concession they gave us was allowing my wife to sit, while I stood in the queue,” he said.
The fact that the PHC, which is expected to be equipped to perform both normal deliveries and C-sections, and provide emergency first aids, didn’t have a simple wheelchair to offer has shocked even health department officials.
“We will ensure all PHCs are disabled-friendly and equipped with wheelchairs,” a health officer said.