Mock drill held at three places for Covid vaccine rollout in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: A mock drill to administer the Covid-19 vaccine was carried out in the city and Mahbubnagar, as well as in centres across the country, on Saturday to identify the logistical challenges and solve in advance the problems that could arise during the actual roll-out of the vaccination programme.
Health minister Etela Rajender said, “The Centre has indicated sending five lakh doses and we want these done first for healthcare workers, police and emergency departments personnel, as they are the first in the line of exposure.”
The dry run was carried out at Gandhi Hospital as also the primary healthcare centres at Nampally and Tilaknagar. Yashoda Hospitals at Somajiguda was the only private hospital where the mock drill was done.
At the Tilaknagar centre, Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan and her husband, senior nephrologist Dr P. Soundararajan, observed the protocols being followed for the dry run. They motivated healthcare workers for carrying out the mock drill and appreciated their efforts.
To follow the vaccination protocols, as many as 10,000 healthcare workers have been trained in the state.
Dr Tamilisai said that the vaccination process would be taken up in four stages. About 80 lakh people are to be vaccinated. In the first phase, five lakh people will be administered the vaccine. Healthcare workers, frontline warriors, people above 50 years of age and those below 50 with health complications would be covered first.
The step-by-step system had been revised here in a two-day training programme carried out by the government. Data of healthcare workers in government and private hospitals has been updated for the vaccination roll-out.
A senior health official said, “The actual vaccination roll-out will be from a few centres on a pilot project basis. It will be extended to other centres later. The roll-out of the vaccination will be in phases."
Like the mock drill, there is expectation that each centre will be asked to perform a dry run when the vaccine is supplied. This will give hands-on information on preparedness by healthcare workers.
Dr Ramesh Reddy, director of health, observed the dry run at Gandhi Hospital and was satisfied with the preparedness. There were 15 healthcare workers in the mock drill carried out at the Yashoda Hospitals.
Apart from Hyderabad, the mock drill was carried out at the government general hospital, Neha Shine hospital and the primary health centre at Janampet in Mahbubnagar where 25 to 30 healthcare workers participated.
