Chaos and confusion reigned at Dahisar jumbo COVID centre at Kandarpada near check Naka on Sunday. While the centre remained shut on Sunday for maintenance, without informing the beneficiaries, hundreds of people thronged the centre for receiving their vaccine jabs were turned away by the staff, creating a ruckus.
The confusion unfolded at Covid Vaccination Centre at Dahisar Jumbo Covid Centre near Check Naka after the staff were surprised to see vaccine-seekers on their premises despite the centre being shut.
Over 150 beneficiaries, majority of who were senior citizens, were forced to return empty-handed from the Dahisar vaccination centre on Sunday morning due to a "miscommunication". The elderly visitors had confirmed appointments but were told that there was no vaccination scheduled for the day, as the centre is shut for maintenance
"Since there was no vaccination on Sundays, almost a week back we had scheduled for maintenance work of the centre, which had been postponed several times. We had already informed the head office about this but there seems to be some miscommunication or glitch. The vaccination schedules were still allotted to a lot of people through apps. There was no way we could have carried out the vaccination in that case. The situation was brought under control by afternoon by the staff," said Dr Deepa Shriyan, in charge dean of Dahisar Covid Centre and Associate Professor of BYL Nair Hospital.
"We received a message after registering through the CoWin app. We reached before 10 am and but there wasn’t anyone to give the vaccine and we saw other like us crowding outside the centre. We waited at the centre for half an hour, then a security person told us that the centre is shut for today. Hundreds of people reached the hospital for vaccination during that period and it was complete chaos.” said Madhav Das, a resident of Dahisar west.
According to the Security staff at the centre, citizens kept arriving at the centre throughout the day. " We have taken down their details and names. We have asked them to come back with their schedule messages on next Sunday. We will not take any other registrations but will schedule this lot for next Sunday," added Shriyan.
