PUNE: The long unmanaged vaccine queues from Monday reappeared on Tuesday at sites across the
Pune Metropolitan Region
(PMR).
But despite the chaos, data was encouraging. Over 1,400 senior citizens and people above 45 with comorbidities were vaccinated on Tuesday in the PMR. It’s a three-fold increase from Monday, when the drive started for members of the public.
The PCMC areas had the highest number of
elderly beneficiaries
in the district, with 785 inoculated across eight sites. A total of 534 beneficiaries were vaccinated in
PMC
limits and in Pune rural, 398 got their jabs .
But scores on Tuesday had to wait for hours for their shot. At Sassoon, Kamala Nehru and Sutar hospital, vaccination started late for the second consecutive day.
Bal Gurjal, 71, who was given a slot at Sassoon after registering on the CoWIN portal said, “For a year, I managed to keep myself safe from the virus. I’m now worried about catching it here.”
Another senior citizen, Vijay Bijalani, who was in the Sassoon queue at 9am, said she had not received the shot even by 1pm. “This has been a very hot day. I’m tired of waiting,” she said.
Dr Manju Telikarkar (69), who was at Sutar, said she understood the pressure hospital staff were facing. “They can’t help it if the server is down. They were helpful and courteous.”
Ashish Bharati, head of the PMC's health department said, “A time slot between 9am and 5pm was given to all beneficiaries who had registered online. But walk-ins caused the rush.”
Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health services for Pune region, said key sites will now be asked to increase the number of booths and have fans or coolers in place for beneficiaries.
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