A 4,000-square-foot building directly across from the canteen of the Dr. RN Cooper hospital in Mumbai was supposed to be used as a shelter. In March, it was turned into an isolation facility for Covid-19 patients. On December 29, work began to turn it into a model vaccination center.
More than 30 workers are now working on the warpath day and night to prepare the model center at Cooper Hospital. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked contractor Eckon to deliver the center by Monday night.
Cooper Hospital, along with seven BMC hospitals, has been selected for the first phase of immunization of healthcare workers. Mumbai has registered 1.26 lakhs of health workers for vaccination in the first phase.
On Sunday, India’s Comptroller General of Drugs approved emergency restricted use of the Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccines.
BMC officials said they expect implementation of the vaccine to begin soon and have asked contractors to speed up the work. On Sunday night, workers were busy painting chairs for waiting areas at Cooper Hospital, some preparing beds and others finishing electrical work.
“We started the civil works last week and we only have one day to finish the work. We are not going to change the basic infrastructure because it was already being used as an isolation room, ”said an Eckon contractor at the site. While the K West district handles drainage and the installation of curtains or partitions, the BMC maintenance department will install signs.
The center will have a waiting area under a shed at the entrance. The registration will take place in a corridor, which leads to three vaccination rooms. In each room, about five people can be vaccinated at a time.
An observation room further down the corridor will have several chairs to monitor each vaccinated recipient for half an hour. In the event of an anaphylactic reaction or serious adverse effects, the beneficiary will be transferred to two other rooms that house beds and emergency medical equipment.
Dr. Pinakin Gujjar, dean of Cooper Hospital, said that a team of specialists in anesthesia, otolaryngology, chest and general medicine will be on hand to manage serious adverse effects. “We didn’t have to spend a lot in the center, we just had to fix the existing facilities. We are installing water coolers and repairing toilets, ”said Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani.
BMC has currently selected five storage centers, at KEM, Nair, Sion and Cooper Hospitals, as well as the F South Health Office, where the first batch of vaccine will be stored. Meanwhile, a nodal storage facility is being built in Kanjurmarg.
The Cooper Hospital Vaccination Center can vaccinate 2,000 people a day. Ten teams will be delegated to work in two shifts for this purpose.
Since Cooper Hospital is the main vaccination center in the western suburbs, BMC is reflecting on creating a token system at the registration desk. “It is possible that a large crowd will come at the same time for the vaccination. To avoid overcrowding at the verification desk, a token will be issued to beneficiaries to create a waiting list and accommodate them in the waiting room, ”Kakani said.
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