Nellore: Vaccination takes a back seat with coronavirus

Nellore: The majority in the district are now missing antenatal and postnatal care due to strict lockdown restrictions where the movement of people is restricted and also hospitals failing to provide care to the people other than COVID patients. Adding to their woes in Nellore, Narayana General Hospital, which has been converted as District COVID Hospital, was planned to provide medical services to the poor and needy after the Government General Hospital (GGH) attached to the Government Medical College has been designated as state COVID hospital. The GGH was earlier Regional Centre for COVID cases.

Medical experts are saying the entire focus of the government has been to prevent the spread of coronavirus and was neglecting the long-term impact of lack of immunisation which could adversely affect the health of women and children.

Medical experts say a vaccine helps the body's immune system to recognise and fight pathogens like viruses or bacteria, which keeps the people safe from the diseases they cause and also protect against more than 25 debilitating diseases like measles, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, meningitis, influenza, tetanus, typhoid, and cervical cancer. Usually, all government medical facilities and private hospitals provide vaccination to the newborn and also to pregnant women during specific months.

Now, children and pregnant are missing the vaccination cycle due to restrictions on the movement of people. Consequently, parents and family members are moving earth and heaven to contact doctors during relaxation hours from 6 to 9 am. The situation worsened with the closure of OPs even in the private hospitals as per directions of the government.

"The State government provided helpline numbers of some medical professionals for suggestions on any health issues. A doctor asked to wait for a month. After the first dose, we have been trying hard for the second dose for my daughter-in-law for the last 20 days which has been a herculean task," said S V Mallikarjunam, a retired bank manager. "If we discontinued vaccination, the diseases would start coming back. Besides smallpox, all other diseases are still active in some parts of the world. Though we are vaccinated still we are getting smallpox and other diseases. The government has to consider providing some specific hospitals for vaccination purposes," said Dr. V R K Reddy, a retired medical professional.