Names of 800 healthcare workers go missing from Co-WIN portal in Bihar

Names of around 800 health care workers, including senior doctors at the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) in Patna, have gone missing from the Co-WIN portal for Covid-19 vaccination drive, the hospital alleged on Thursday.

The NMCH administration claimed it had sent the list of nearly 800 health care workers, working in the principal’s office, along with the list of 1,400 hospital staff, to Patna civil surgeon last December, but names of those from the medical college were missing from the portal.

“Some of the senior doctors wanted to take the vaccine shots and lead by example so that we can motivate the younger doctors, nursing, paramedical staff and sanitation workers to come forward and take the vaccine, but we couldn’t. We found that names of all faculty members (assistant professor and above) and college staff are missing from the portal,” said NMCH superintendent Dr Binod Kumar Singh.

NMCH's principal Dr Hiralal Mahto has flagged the issue with Patna civil surgeon.

“We have asked the NMCH to send us its list once again so that we can re-verify and re-load the names of those missing from the portal,” said Patna civil surgeon Dr Vibha Kumari Singh.

Asked how long it would take for the process to be completed on the portal, Dr Singh said, “Let’s hope for the best”.

The NMCH has been struggling to reach vaccination targets. It achieved 31% target on day one (January 16), 28% on day two (January 18), 11% on January 19 and 40% on Thursday.

“Though it should not have happened, these are IT issues and sometimes technical glitches do take place. We will re-load the names of those missing from the portal,” said executive director of the State Health Society, Bihar, Manoj Kumar, who is also the state nodal officer for vaccination.