Pune: Guidelines to assist rural vaccine sites manage rush

PUNE: District collector Rajesh Deshmukh has released a set of guidelines seeking a coordinated effort on the part of the rural police and the pr/imary health centre (PHC) authorities to tackle crowding at the facilities for vaccination.
The problem has been accentuated by an acute shortage of vaccines, which has forced people from urban areas driving in large numbers to the PHCs in the hope of getting the all-important dose. Coupled with the local population that reaches the PHCs, the people from the urban areas end up adding to the crowd and many times it becomes difficult for the authorities to manage them, especially when there is very less allotment of vaccine.
Superintendent of police Abhinav Deshmukh said almost all vaccination centres were reporting chaotic situation across the district for the past few days. This issue was discussed at a meeting chaired by district collector Rajesh Deshmukh last week. “We have deployed 100 constables and 150 home guards to maintain the situation,” said Deshmukh.
“Disputes between local population and people, who come from the Pune and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation limits for vaccination in rural areas, are taking place at multiple centres nowadays. This has disturbed the entire process of the vaccination at sites. Hence we have deployed our force,” Deshmukh added.
Dr Indira Parkhe, in-charge of Shelpimpalgaon PHC, said, “The crowd here comes in the early hours for vaccination, despite giving clear instructions about doses and eligible beneficiaries. They sometimes behaved inappropriately with our staffers. The situation improved on Sunday after deployment of two police constables at the centre. On an average, we get 200 doses for different age groups. Most of the doses are for people aged abover 45 years. But still people aged between 18 years to 44 years come to centre and create a chaos.”
Jayshree Mahajan, in-charge of PHC Karanjvihare, said, “Maximum beneficieries here come from the PCMC limits. Because of this, we have witnessed dispute between locals and these people. It creates tension among our staffers. Police deployment was needed to resolve the issue.”