M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Dec 15: Big districts of Jharkhand having 20+ blocks and 260+ panchayats might have to take a leaf from the smaller districts about how smaller districts go about the covid vaccination. According to the state health department, smaller districts fare well in covid vaccination than bigger districts of the state.
Simdega is a small district with only 10 blocks, 7 community health centres, and 5 operational primary health centres. But it has shown remarkable performance in the Covid vaccination drives.
Civil surgeon of Simdega, Dr Pramod Kr Sinha told lagatar24.com today that till Tuesday, 69.02% of the targeted eligibles figuring 4.38 lakh have been given their first dose. 45.26% of people have received their second dose too.
He also narrated an incident when a labour leader gathered 141 labourers and brought them to the vaccination centre for their first doses. He was given Rs. 1,410 (Rs.10 per labourer) as a ‘thank you’ token.
According to Sinha, this labour leader was not the only one to receive the fiscal honour. “There are many to whom we have given money, which runs into a few good lakhs. Incentives reached our ground level health workers too,” he added.
DC Simdega Sushant Gaurav said that Simdega is the third least populated district after Lohardaga and Khunti in Jharkhand but it has a larger spread area, around 3,774 square kilometers. As a result, houses are located far away from others and where vaccination teams reach either on foot or bikes.
“Our BDOs make it a point to ensure the journey of the vaccination teams starts at 8 in the morning,” the DC added.
He said the state government has set a task for each of the 24 districts to achieve 100 percent vaccination of the eligibles by mid-January 2022. “We are on to this task with more energy and zeal and we believe our teams will achieve it,” he stated.
