Vaccination beneficiaries, who were told to go to PK Road civic school for their anti-Coronavirus vaccine shots, fume at the abrupt decision; BMC says need for extra beds necessitated the move
Confusion prevailed at the PK Road civic school centre on Thursday
A sudden shift of the vaccination point from the Mulund Jumbo COVID centre to a local BMC school and another site resulted in much chaos and inconvenience for hundreds of beneficiaries on Thursday.
One of the biggest vaccine delivery spots in the city, the jumbo centre had been immunising 1,500-1,600 citizens a day. With the diversion of the load, authorities said, it will take a couple of days to streamline the system at the new delivery points. Officials said the rapid surge in cases brought in by the second wave pushed the BMC to expand the jumbo centre with 250 beds by utlising the vaccination area.
The vaccine centre was abruptly shut on Wednesday, leaving citizens puzzled. They were told to visit either PK Road civic school or the Mithagar vaccination centre. As the Mithagar centre has the capacity to inoculate just 300 citizens, many headed for the other centre, only to be left frustrated.
Amesar Bharat went back home without a jab after waiting for three hours. Pics/Rajesh Gupta
Amesar Bharat returned from the PK Road school without a shot after waiting for 3 hours. “I had taken the first dose at Mulund Jumbo COVID centre. It was smooth. As they have diverted all the people to the school, the system has collapsed here.” said Bharat.
PK Sheikh, 67, said authorities at the jumbo centre told him on Wednesday to bring someone along with him the next day. “Today I took my son with me, but they told me the centre has been closed and it will be done at PK Road. We rushed there to know that vaccines stocks were over. It’s a mockery of senior citizens like us. If we don’t get a vaccine in the next 8 days, it will become extremely difficult after May 1 as vaccination will be opened for all,” he said.
Another beneficiary, 70-year-old Satish Joshi, said, “Twice they told me to come back citing heavy rush. Now at 1pm, they said they had run out of the stock.”
Dr. Abhay Naik, deputy dean of the jumbo centre, said, “We have been asked to expand the facility for COVID patients. So now vaccination has been shifted to 2 other centres.” He refused to respond to the chaos at the civic school.
Kishor Gandhi, assistant municipal commissioner of T ward, said the need for more beds necessitated the move. He said, “We have kept the capacity of vaccinating 500 to 600 persons per day at PK Road centre. It will take a couple of days to streamline the system, provided we have ample supply of vaccine shots.”
1,500
No. of shots/day given by jumbo centre before closure
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