As Nanavati runs out of stock, dejected beneficiaries ask how the state plans to vaccinate all adults with barely a week left
An elderly man questions the hospital staff for issuing tokens when they didn’t have enough vaccine stock
With the next phase of vaccination starting in less than a week, current beneficiaries have asked: why have you called more people to come from May 1? Several people, including senior citizens, with tokens in hand, waited for their turn at the Nanavati hospital’s vaccination centre on Monday, only to be told to go back home hours later. The hospital allegedly issued more tokens than the doses they had.
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Beneficiaries wait for their turn to get vaccinated at Nanavati hospital on Monday
MID-DAY, which was witness to the chaos on Monday, saw a long queue form outside the hospital. After distributing about 700 tokens, the Nanavati hospital staff asked the remaining beneficiaries waiting in line to go back home.
Beneficiaries, who had received tokens, waited hours for their turn. However, around 4.30 pm, more than 250 of them, mostly senior citizens, were told to go back home as the vaccine stock for the day was over.
This infuriated the people, some of whom yelled at the staff for making them wait for hours and then telling them that they cannot be vaccinated. An agitated elderly man was seen climbing up a gate, with tokens in his hand, and questioning the staff.
Though there were no consistent answers, a hospital employee was caught on video saying that they only had 500 vaccine doses for the day, to which the crowd yelled, “Agar 500 vaccines they toh 700 tokens kyun baatein? (If you had only 500 vaccines, why did you distribute 700 tokens?)”
Payal Gosali, a freelance designer who had accompanied her 73-year-old mother, Bharti, said she had reached the hospital around 9.30 am and her token number was 377. After waiting for nearly 10 hours, we were asked to leave, she added.
“Before bringing my mom, I had checked with the hospital and was assured that it had a stock of 700 injections. I am surprised that so many people had to return. I stayed back till late evening because my mother had just been discharged after getting treatment for a major infection and an irregular heartbeat. We were advised to get her second dose at the earliest as she was at a high risk of contracting the virus.” said Payal.
She asked why the people have been told to come for vaccination from May 1. “I saw some VIPs getting special treatment, even as others were told to go home,” Gosali alleged.
Ashok Solanki, 58, who has a furniture business, called the entire episode a “classic case of mismanagement.” “When the hospital was aware of the stock it had, why did it issue so many tokens? It was sad to see so many senior citizens waiting under the hot sun for hours and then told to return home. Some of them could barely walk.”
Bhumesh Khurana from the Nanavati hospital’s administration, who was seen pacifying the agitated crowd, later told mid-day that the hospital indeed had a stock of 700 injections in the morning. Many people were vaccinated in the first round, which stated around 8.30 am, he added. “The discrepancy was noticed when the second lot had to be vaccinated.”
“We are trying our best to cope with the situation and there is nothing much we can do when our stocks run out. I, too, was sad to see so many senior citizens returning dejected. We get our supplies from the concerned state government departments, and our stocks are strictly monitored. The more vaccines we give, it reflects on our future procurements. If we have extra injections I am not going to take them home,” he said.
700
No. of tokens hospital issued on Monday
500
No. of doses the hospital had for Monday as per staff
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