Delhi govt to double vaccination centres, extend their timings to cover 125,000 people daily

Keeping vaccination centres open for 12 hours and increasing the number of inoculation sites across the city are two of several measures that the Delhi government is taking to increase the daily vaccination numbers from the current nearly 40,000 to 125,000

Keeping vaccination centres open for 12 hours and increasing the number of inoculation sites across the city are two of several measures that the Delhi government is taking to increase the daily vaccination numbers from the current nearly 40,000 to 125,000.

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“Currently, we are vaccinating 30,000 to 40,000 people a day and are planning to increase this to 125,000 soon. The number of centres will also be doubled from the existing 500. At present, Covid-19 vaccination centres operate daily from 9am to 5pm, but their timings will be extended to 9am to 9pm daily,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference on Thursday.

Towards that end, the Delhi government on Thursday also ordered all its hospitals to extend the timings of their centres from Monday. “It is hereby ordered that with effect from 22.03.2021, all Delhi government hospitals will operate vaccination sites functioning on their premises up to at least 9pm. All facilities will ensure deployment of adequate manpower at these sites to ensure proper functioning of vaccination sites. Non-compliance shall be viewed seriously,” read the order from special secretary (health) SM Ali.

In addition, all Delhi government-run hospitals have also been asked to increase the number of sites on their premises to at least six. Even the Lok Nayak Hopsital currently has five vaccination sites while the Rajiv Gandhi superspeciality hospital has four.

One of the vaccination centres at the 2,000-bed Lok Nayak hospital, which was the biggest Covid-19 treatment facility in Delhi, already runs round the clock. But, it is only meant for front-line workers who can get shot once their duty time is over.

“Currently, we get around 30 to 40 people each day after hours at the centre. Now, everyone in the priority group will be allowed to come between 9am and 9pm to get the shots. From Friday, the hospital will start assessing the space needed for the additional centre and the manpower to keep it open till 9pm,” said a senior administrative official from the hospital, requesting anonymity.

INCREASING CENTRES

To increase the number of centres, Delhi will start the immunisation drive at all its dispensaries from next week. “Inspection of dispensaries has been completed and in the next couple of days, all of them will start the vaccine drive -- people will have centres closer to their homes,” said a senior district official, on condition of anonymity.

There are around 260 dispensaries run by the Delhi government in the city and currently, they operate only between 9am and 5pm. “We have to see about staff availability and other logistical issues before extending the timings of dispensaries,” the official said.

There are, at present, 550 vaccinations sites -- in 208 hospitals and 40 dispensaries -- in Delhi, according to the CoWIN portal. Of them, 325 are in government facilities and 225 in private centres. When the vaccination drive was opened to the general public at the beginning of March, most of the centres (136) were given to the private sector.

The government is now looking to bring on board several private sector hospitals as well.

“One round of inspection has been conducted at several small hospitals and they are likely to be added to the centres’ list next week. Additionally, we have received requests from private hospitals to keep centres open on Sundays. That is also likely to happen soon,” said another senior district official, also on condition of anonymity.