Raghav Saboo, from Sharada Colony, Basaveshwara Nagar, got a vaccination slot for his grandparents at Chord Road Hospital on Friday after registering them on the Co-WIN portal.
But much to his dismay, when he reached the hospital, the authorities there said they had received no vaccine supply. He was not alone. Two other families walked in with vaccination appointment letters downloaded from the Co-WIN portal and returned disappointed.
Raghav told DH: “It was very inconvenient for my grandparents as they are wheelchair-bound. If there is no vaccine supply to a hospital, why are senior citizens being allotted a slot on the portal?”
Dr Manoranjan Hegde, Health Officer, West, BBMP, checked the list of hospitals where vaccination sessions were scheduled for March 5. “Chord Road Hospital is not on the list. Unless we schedule a session in hospitals, Co-WIN should not be able to give appointment in any other hospital. I will discuss with the special commissioner why citizens are getting these appointments on the portal,” he said.
Dr Krishna Murthy, Medical Superintendent, Chord Road Hospital, said: “We are helpless. Citizens are even coming in and shouting at us for not vaccinating them. We have been mapped to the Kamalanagar primary health centre and should be supplied Covid vaccines by them. The medical officer of the PHC said they themselves did not receive the vaccines so there’s no question of supplying to us. The officer said we may receive the vaccines on March 8 or March 9.”
He continued: “We have so far had 15 phone calls from senior citizens saying they’ve got a slot in our hospital. Around three families even came down all the way here. Some of them asked for written conformation so we gave it in writing that we don’t have the vaccine supply yet.”
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