Why issue 700 tokens for 500 COVID-19 shots, ask dejected beneficiaries

With the next phase of vaccination starting in less than a week current beneficiaries have asked why have you called more people to come from May 1 Several people including senior citizens with tokens in hand waited for their turn at the Nanavati hospitalrsquos vaccination centre on Monday only to be told to go back home hours later The hospital allegedly issued more tokens than the doses they hadBeneficiaries wait for their turn to get vaccinated at Nanavati hospital on MondayMIDDAY which was witness to the chaos on Monday saw a long queue form outside the hospital After distributing about 700 tokens the Nanavati hospital staff asked the remaining beneficiaries waiting in line to go back homeBeneficiaries who had received tokens waited hours for their turn However around 430 pm more than 250 of them mostly senior citizens were told to go back home as the vaccine stock for the day was overThis infuriated the people some of whom yelled at the staff for making them wait for hours and then telling them that they cannot be vaccinated An agitated elderly man was seen climbing up a gate with tokens in his hand and questioning the staffThough there were no consistent answers a hospital employee was caught on video saying that they only had 500 vaccine doses for the day to which the crowd yelled ldquoAgar 500 vaccines they toh 700 tokens kyun baatein If you had only 500 vaccines why did you distribute 700 tokensrdquoPayal Gosali a freelance designer who had accompanied her 73yearold mother Bharti said she had reached the hospital around 930 am and her token number was 377 After waiting for nearly 10 hours we were asked to leave she addedldquoBefore bringing my mom I had checked with the hospital and was assured that it had a stock of 700 injections I am surprised that so many people had to return I stayed back till late evening because my mother had just been discharged after getting treatment for a major infection and an irregular heartbeat We were advised to get her second dose at the earliest as she was at a high risk of contracting the virusrdquo said PayalShe asked why the people have been told to come for vaccination from May 1 ldquoI saw some VIPs getting special treatment even as others were told to go homerdquo Gosali allegedAshok Solanki 58 who has a furniture business called the entire episode a ldquoclassic case of mismanagementrdquo ldquoWhen the hospital was aware of the stock it had why did it issue so many tokens It was sad to see so many senior citizens waiting under the hot sun for hours and then told to return home Some of them could barely walkrdquoBhumesh Khurana from the Nanavati hospitalrsquos administration who was seen pacifying the agitated crowd later told midday that the hospital indeed had a stock of 700 injections in the morning Many people were vaccinated in the first round which stated around 830 am he added ldquoThe discrepancy was noticed when the second lot had to be vaccinatedrdquoldquoWe are trying our best to cope with the situation and there is nothing much we can do when our stocks run out I too was sad to see so many senior citizens returning dejected We get our supplies from the concerned state government departments and our stocks are strictly monitored The more vaccines we give it reflects on our future procurements If we have extra injections I am not going to take them homerdquo he said700No of tokens hospital issued on Monday500No of doses the hospital had for Monday as per staff