Punjab: Not govt, private health care workers lead the jabbed list

CHANDIGARH: There has been 18% more Covid vaccine takers in private health care centres in Chandigarh as compared to government health care workers (HCW).

In Panchkula, 2% more have been vaccinated from government set-up than those working in private health care. Initially, private health care workers in Chandigarh were reluctant to send their data for vaccine registration. There are 249 private facilities registered in Chandigarh for Covid vaccination till February19. Mohali has not compiled such data. Mohali civil surgeon Dr Adarshpal Kaur feels they cannot discriminate and get organisation details of health care workers. In fact, when team TOI accessed the CoWin app, it was found that there is a complete template which has all the details of the registered beneficiaries. It also mentions their organisation details and when/where they received the Covid shots.

“Total beneficiaries vaccinated in the district hospital in Mohali are 466, while beneficiaries vaccinated in private hospitals are 3,355,” said Dr Kaur.

In Chandigarh, until February 20, out of 2,954 registered private health care workers, 1,365 have been jabbed. Out of 28,202 health care workers from government set-up, 7,563 have been given the Covid shot till February 20.

In Panchkula, 2,988 health care workers have been jabbed, while from the private centres, 4,645 have received the shots until February 19.

In the past three weeks, the vaccine coverage has increased from 22% to 41% in the city.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday stated that Punjab’s coverage has been the poorest and it’s a matter of concern. “Yet, the Mohali health department has no idea how the template works,” said an official in Panchkula health department.