Mumbai: CoWIN crashes again but BMC meets 72 per cent of its target on Friday

Health workers get vaccinated at Ambedkar hospital in Kandivli. Pic/Satej Shinde

The vaccination drive in the city hit a roadblock again on Friday, Day 9 of the vaccination drive as the CoWIN app stopped working in the morning. There were long queues in all centres and healthcare workers returned home without a vaccine after waiting for two-three hours. Despite the hurdles, the BMC managed to meet 72 per cent of the target of 7,690 set for Friday.

Health workers at Nair hospital's vaccination centre had to wait in long queues as the CoWIN crash caused delays in the drive again. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The BMC aims to complete giving the first of the two doses of vaccination by February 14. The corporation allowed walk-in facilities to increase the number of vaccinations and started a war room to call healthcare workers for the vaccination. "After such an effort, many private healthcare workers came today for the vaccination by taking time out from their schedule. But the server was down and we were helpless," said an official at one of the centres.

Health workers wait for vaccination at Ambedkar hospital, Kandivli. Pic/Satej Shinde

"We have been waiting here for two hours. But the authorities are unable to tell if we will get a dose today or not. We can't come here and stand for hours every day. It is a waste of so many hours of healthcare workers' time. We are already working under pressure," said a private doctor who had visited Nair hospital for the vaccination.

"The BMC is ready with all the infrastructure. But we can't help things when the server is down. The health teams had a daily list and only those got vaccines. The centres couldn't vaccinate others who came as walk-ins," said Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC.

On Friday, nearly 1,000 healthcare workers received vaccines at Ambedkar hospital, Kandivli, while 802 and 790 were vaccinated at KEM hospital and Rajawadi hospitals respectively and 171 people took the dose at the new NESCO facility. The turnout at JJ hospital, where Covaxin is being given, increased finally.

Vaccination figures
KEM hospital: 802
Sion hospital: 264
Cooper hospital: 536
Nair hospital: 543
VN Desai hospital: 139
Ambedkar hospital: 928
Rajawadi hospital: 790
BKC Covid Centre: 584
Bhabha hospital: 220
JJ hospital: 41
SevenHills hospital: 492