The dry run for COVID-19 vaccination was held in three centres in Shivamogga district on Saturday. Except for the centre at Shikaripur, the mock drill was held as per schedule.
The dry run was held at McGann Hospital in Shivamogga, taluk hospital at Shikaripur and the primary health centre at Antaragange in Bhadravati taluk. There was a delay in starting the run at Shikaripur as a body arrived at the hospital for post-mortem.
As many as 25 beneficiaries, health workers, participated in the drive at each centre. Deputy Commissioner K.B. Shivakumar and District Health Officer Rajesh Suragihalli monitored the dry run.
Three separate rooms were set up in each centre and the information of participants was uploaded to the designated website. The staff members ensured that the participants receive a message on their phones.
The dry run was delayed by nearly half-an-hour at Shikaripur. Dr. Rajesh Suragihalli told The Hindu that it was delayed as a body arrived for post-mortem at short notice. “As the body arrived at the hospital, the staff had to attend to the emergency. A crowd had also followed the body. Because of these developments, the procedures got delayed by half-an-hour. However, later the dry run was conducted as per the guidelines smoothly. There were three separate rooms to complete the procedure.”
Further, the officer said the dry run was conducted only to study what all challenges the staff might encounter during the actual vaccination drive. “One thing we understood today is that crowd management would be one of the tasks to handle. Anyhow, during the actual drive, there would be designated staff to handle the vaccination and they need not attend to emergency cases”, he said.
