Senior citizens find tough to visit first-floor vaccination room at Ghaziabad’s district hospital

The rush of people at the Sanjay Nagar Combined District Hospital have forced senior citizens arriving to get their Covid-19 vaccine to take the stairs to the first-floor vaccination centre

The rush of people at the Sanjay Nagar Combined District Hospital have forced senior citizens arriving to get their Covid-19 vaccine to take the stairs to the first-floor vaccination centre.

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The hospital, scheduled to vaccinate around 300 people a day six days a week, does not have an elevator.

“It is difficult for old people to climb the stairs. Many have to rely on family to hold them. Even outside the vaccination room, there are long queues and social distancing is hardly maintained. But that is how government hospitals are. So, people try to get free vaccine here and go home without complaining,” said a senior woman who on Tuesday who did not wish to be named.

“It would be better if the vaccination rooms are shifted to the ground floor,” said Ravinder Sharma, a 64-year-old beneficiary.

What has made the situation difficult are the many health care workers and front line workers who missed their first shot and are now making use of the walk-in provision to get their shot. This has stressed the hospital.

Chief medical officer Dr N K Gupta said he was aware of the situation.

“We have requested the vaccination teams to vaccinate senior citizens in their vehicles if they cannot climb stairs. We will request the hospital to consider shifting the vaccination rooms to the ground floor,” he said.

“We have the vaccination room on the first floor because our OPD is on the ground floor where we serve about 800-900 patients daily. That would not help maintain social distancing,” said Dr Sanjay Teotia, chief medical superintendent of the hospital. He said the hospital had an elevator at the back but is out of order. “Even if we make it operational, we do not have an elevator operator at our hospital without who we cannot allow patients to use it.”