BHOPAL: The health department does not want to share any information of the doctors and healthcare workers who did not turn up at the vaccination session sites for immunisation against coronavirus. National Health Mission (NHM) officials have left it to the district-level local unit, but the health officials here have refused to share any information about the healthcare workers who chose to give the vaccine a miss. The health department authorities have taken the plea that vaccination is not compulsory, so the department cannot force any health worker to go for it. However, they are sure that each and every health worker will get vaccinated against the virus.
The number of volunteers declined on the second day of first phase of the immunization in Madhya Pradesh. On the first day, of the 15,000 healthcare workers, 9543 had turned up for the vaccination. However, the number dropped to 8995 on the second day against the target of 15,000. So far, 18,559 healthcare workers of the 30,000 have been vaccinated in the state. On the first day, percentage of volunteers was 63.2 per cent, while it came down to 50 per cent on the second day two. In Bhopal, as many as 609 people got the dose in the second round, while the figure stood at 620 January 16, the first round of nationwide vaccination drive.
JP Hospital Civil surgeon Dr RK Shrivastava said, “If they have not turned for the vaccination now, they would certainly come later as everyone is well aware of the importance of the vaccine.” So it is not important to share contact numbers and other information of those who did not turn up in the last two days despite calls and SMSs. There may be some other reasons for their not coming to the vaccination session site, but we are sure they will get themselves vaccinated, said Shrivastava.
Besides, the technical snag is also responsible for the low turnout. There was a lot of confusion over the SMS not being received and thus at the eleventh hour, the phone calls were made from hospital telephones urging the health workers to come for the vaccination. But all this mix-up led to a drop in vaccination percentage across the state.
