BMC's vaccination drive: People wait for hours to get their jabs at SevenHills Hospital in Andheri

Ashok Chadha gets the vaccine at SevenHills hospital, in Andheri. Pic/Shadab Khan

People gathered in huge numbers outside SevenHills Hospital on Monday morning. Due to CoWIN app glitches, people had to wait outside till about noon. However, once the vaccination started, it went on smoothly both for registered as well as walk-in applicants. Several beneficiaries complained of unavailability of time slots on the app, one of the major problems they faced while registering.

Senior citizens and other beneficiaries wait for their turn to get vaccinated at SevenHills hospital in Andheri. Pic/Shadab Khan

The dean of the hospital, Balkrishna Adsul said, "We have two separate counters for registered citizens and walk-ins. For the registered people we are conducting the verification process and then issuing unit numbers where they need to get the shots. Our service is smooth and there have been no hurdles since the system became operational. The problems that we faced initially were later resolved."

‘The experience was smooth'
Vinit Chadha, 45, with his father Ashok Chadha, 73, reached the centre after noon, and as they had registered themselves on the app, they did not face any issues. Vinit said, "They asked for the doctor's certificate, govt ID card number and birth date. There were some minor issues but that we could deal with."

‘Had to wait for over an hour'
Venugopal Variar, 68, and Valsala Variar, 66, who reached the hospital around 10 am faced problems in entering the premises. Venugopal said, "We did not register on the application because we thought that as it was the first day not many may turn up. Hardly did we know that we would have to wait at the gate for over an hour to enter. "We were informed that the system was down but many people tried to get in without permission. But after we entered, there were no problems."