BHOPAL: The state governmentís vaccination drive can be compared with a goods train. It develops glitches on the way and, sometimes, breaks down before the journeyís end.
The first phase of the drive was for those who are above 45 years, but, in the midway, it fell through. It began again after a few days. Many elderly people were vaccinated, as the anti-corona jabs were also available in private hospitals then.
Even before the first phase of the vaccination drive could end, the second wave of Covid-19 began to deluge the state. The number of deaths from Covid-19 and that of people afflicted with the virus swelled. The health system began to hobble and oxygen cylinders, medicines and Remdesivir vials turned into gas.
The poor failed to buy those items that were available in the black market at a price. Even the rich had to sweat it out for such items. The vaccination drive stopped. Injections were out of market in big cities of the state.
The scene in the rural areas, where health system has almost caved in, is more pathetic than the one in cities. Many people who got the first shot had to cool their heels for the second. The government declared Corona Curfew to stop the second wave of the pandemic. The vaccination drive stopped. Those who were given the first dose were moving from pillar to post for the second. It was not available in private hospitals.
A vaccination centre has been set up at Jawhar Vidyalaya, near Kasturba Hospital, near Habibganj in the city. The target of the centre is to vaccinate nearly 500 people daily. Those who want to get vaccinated queue up there from 7 am, although the vaccination starts at 9 am. The first dose of the jab, as well as the second one, is given there. As a result, many return home empty-handed.
Anti-corona jabs are also given in Hamidia Hospital, AIIMS and JP Hospital, besides two other centresóNaveen Balika Vidyalaya and Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Tulsi Nagar. Everywhere, one can find a long queue. Security guards at many vaccination centres do not have proper information. They tell the people something, but something else happens.
The doctors and nurses are so busy that they give a wide berth to talking to people. They cannot do anything else, since they handle many serious cases, besides giving injections. They know they are on a goods train and cannot make it run faster than it usually does.
