Day 1 of second phase of vaccination: Glitches galore

Hyderabad: The launch of the vaccination programme for the second phase of Covid-19 witnessed technical glitches on day one.

The official CoWIN app, which is being used to register citizens by their names, played the spoilsport in the Telangana state. People had to wait for at least 3 to 4 hours to get their first jab of the vaccine at the health centres in Hyderabad and also other parts of the State.

In all, 69 per cent of the registered persons have been vaccinated in government and private hospitals. The total number of vaccinated persons on the first day was 4,558 (2553 in private and 2005 in government hospitals) out of 6,759 registered. As a result, many enthusiasts, who were not given the first dose of vaccine, were asked to register their names again and book a new slot. In all, 93 hospitals including 48 government medical centres were equipped with vaccination facilities. Big and tertiary hospitals like Gandhi and Osmania would administer vaccine to 200 registered people every day. In the district headquarters and recognised middle-level hospitals would provide vaccination facilities to 100 people on each day.

Officials of the state Medical and Health department said that only 14 persons (out of 200 registered) got vaccinated in Osmania General Hospital. The main reason for the low number of vaccination of persons is the app did not function for more than two hours. Nearly several registered persons left the hospital without inoculation due to delay in the vaccine administration.

"Only 40 people got vaccinated at ESI Hospital at Erragadda as the vaccination started after 12 noon due to technical reasons. Twenty registered beneficiaries were sent back without being vaccinated even after having an appointment through registration. "We were not vaccinated even after registration. It is not our fault if OTP did not work. The management should take care of such technical issues . The registration of their names are easy but it's not easy to visit the hospital again," a disappointed registered citizen said.

Dr Kalyan Kumar , Incharge, Covid vaccination, said that OTP was not released to the registered persons mobile phones due to technical problems in the app and the persons were asked to register afresh and fix their slot again. The officials managed to restore the functioning of the app in the afternoon, he added.

Officials said that necessary measures were being taken to ensure that people do not face any technical hurdles from Tuesday onwards. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who visited a vaccination centre at King Koti in Hyderabad, said that more number of vaccination centres would be opened in the coming days. He instructed the officials concerned to make extra efforts for 100 per cent vaccination of the registered persons every day.