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Chaos at vaccination centres in MP, health department to increase sites
Long queues, stampede-like situations, chaotic atmosphere, scuffles between people and protests are some of the common sights at various vaccination centres in Madhya Pradesh owing to the alleged absence of proper arrangement and enough doses, HT has learnt
Long queues, stampede-like situations, chaotic atmosphere, scuffles between people and protests are some of the common sights at various vaccination centres in Madhya Pradesh owing to the alleged absence of proper arrangement and enough doses, HT has learnt.
Recent incidents of ruckus were reported from at least six districts including Rajgarh, Panna, Hoshangabad, Chhindwara, Vidisha and Khargone.
In Rajgarh, people created a ruckus at a vaccination centre of Narsinghgarh Tehsil on Thursday. As many as 4,000 people reached for vaccination but the centre received only 500 vaccines. A few residents of Udaipuria village fought for vaccination. Police force had to be deployed at the centre.
Rajgarh collector Neeraj Kumar Singh said, “A large number of people are reaching the vaccination centres. We have no system of prior registration and are doing spot registration. We are making arrangements and also requested the state government to increase doses.”
In a similar incident in a village in Khargone, women engaged in a scuffle in order to enter the vaccination centre. A video of the incident went viral on social media. Block medical officer Dr Rakesh Patidar wrote a letter to district administration and police to make arrangements for security.
People are allegedly panicking to get vaccination first due to rumours of losing the benefit of government schemes and fear of losing their work.
A resident of Bujurg village of Khargone, Shiv Singh said, “We were told that if we don’t take vaccination against Covid-19, we will lose the benefits of all the government schemes. We will not get ration and work.”
In Hoshangabad, Barwani, Vidisha and Panna, a long queue could be seen at centres due to the same reason. Even people are reaching the centre at the night to get the token first. A resident of Panna, Munna Ahirwar, 30, said, “We came back to our village due to lockdown. Now, our lives are solely dependent upon the government’s scheme. If we lose it, we will not survive so I am visiting the centre for the past one week but I am not getting the jab. The health workers here said they didn’t have enough vaccines and it will be given on a first come first serve basis.”
In most of the districts, the administrations are increasing the number of centres.
Panna district collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra said, “Initially, a few people were visiting the centres for vaccination but the sudden increase of numbers is creating chaos at the centre. Now, we have decided to increase the number of centres and token counters to maintain the social distancing.”
Medical education minister Vishwas Sarang said, “We are getting regular doses of vaccine. Even, we made a record of vaccination of 10 lakh people on Thursday. We are in touch with the district administration and are trying to provide vaccine doses as per demand.”
Recently, MP High Court has asked the central government to provide 15 million doses per month or 4 million doses per week to administer at least the first dose of vaccine before the third wave hits, which is predicted in September.
In Madhya Pradesh, over 26.6 million vaccines have been administered till Friday and more than 75 million doses are required to complete the 100% vaccination target till December.
