Jinal Shah
Indian Express
05/19/2010
On Day One of the swine flu vaccination drive for healthcare professionals, the BMC found the vaccine had no takers. Over 2,000 city-based professionals, who had worked in isolation wards and screening centres when the virus had first struck, had consented to taking the vaccine, but none turned up.
The screening ward in Kasturba Hospital, the nodal hospital for treatment of swine flu, has been converted into a vaccination centre. Doctors from the epidemiology cell waited in vain from morning till four in the evening. “Since Kasturba Hospital was the epicenter for swine flu during its peak, we have started the vaccination centre there. We have just opened the ward it will take at least three to four days for doctors and paramedical staffers like ward boys, nurses who are considered to be in the high risk category, and others to come. We have sent circulars to all BMC, state-run and private hospitals where swine flu cases were reported to send their medical professionals to Kasturba Hospital,” said Dr Daksha Shah, head of the BMC’s epidemiology cell.
Read the rest of the story.