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Free pick-and-drop facility to jab centres remains a non-starter in Ludhiana
The district administration has been facing an acute shortage of vaccine doses due to which the beneficiaries are unable to book online slots for inoculation.
The free pick-and-drop service initiated by the Ludhiana police to facilitate the vaccination of elderly beneficiaries against Covid-19 has failed to take off amid unavailability of jab slots across the city.
The district administration has been facing an acute shortage of vaccine doses due to which the beneficiaries are unable to book online slots for inoculation.
Under the scheme, the police had roped in NGO Humhain for providing free rides to elderly persons to the jab centres.
Darbara Singh, who is operating the service for the NGO, said they get 250 to 300 calls daily regarding the rides, but the requests are turned down due to lack of online appointments for vaccination.
“Elderly persons are making calls to book rides to vaccination centres, but in the absence of confirmed online appointments, we are unable to chauffeur them around as there it is uncertain if they would get the jab or not amid vaccine shortage and freezing of online booking,” he said.
As the NGO is trying to engage more volunteers for the service, some city residents have offered to provide their vehicles for the cause. “We will definitely provide free rides to those elderly persons who have confirmed booking of jab slots,” said Singh.
Joint police commissioner Deepak Pareek said that the initiative is meant to help people, especially elderly persons. “Once the vaccine stock is replenished and online booking is back on, the NGO will provide the free service as committed,” he said.
Dr Puneet Juneja, district immunisation officer, said as soon as vaccination centres receive sufficient vaccine doses, they would start giving online appointments.
On May 11, the police had launched the free pick-and-drop service for senior citizens seeking Covid vaccination. A helpline number (9577744447) was also issued for booking the free rides.
Police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal had then announced that the senior citizens who had booked vaccination slots could call for the vehicles, which would pick them up from their homes and drop them back after the vaccination.
