Railway hospitals in Mumbai face COVID-19 vaccine shortage

The isolation ward at Byculla Railway hospital

Railway hospitals in Mumbai started facing a shortage of Covid-19 vaccinations with one of the biggest railway hospitals, the Jagjivan Ram Hospital at Mumbai Central running out of supplies. Western Railway spokesperson confirmed the same.

"Those who had taken a prior appointment were sent a text message yesterday that their confirmed appointments had been cancelled as no vaccine was available at the centre," a senior official said.

On Central Railway, though the supplies had not run out completely, on Thursday, the stocks had started dwindling till the new supplies were provided.

While on Central Railway Mumbai division, there are about 32, 500 employees, over 5,000 have been vaccinated with about 350 doses being administered daily. The target is to administer over 500 doses every day at its various units at Byculla, Kalyan and Thane with further plans to open vaccination centres at Igatpuri, Panvel and Parel. Overall, 25 % of the total staff has been vaccinated till date and over 60 % in the eligible (45+) category.

On Western Railway, over 13,163 employees have already been vaccinated with about 2,514 at Jagjivan Ram Hospital at Mumbai Central and 1,136 in Mumbai division.