Over fortnight on, vax out of stock in Mohali

Tribune News Service

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, April 14

The Covid vaccination in the district has come to a halt after the stock of Covishield and Covaxin exhausted at the end of March.

District Immunisation Officer Dr Girish Dogra said, “At the moment, the vaccine is unavailable in the district. We had got a minimal stock a few months ago, which too has exhausted. The Health Department has been informed about the non-availability of the stock and we are waiting for fresh stock to resume vaccination.”

Officials said the entire Punjab was grappling with the vaccine shortage even as the number of Covid cases was again on the rise.

In the past few months, very few people were coming for vaccination. Only those who had to go abroad needed a vaccination certificate. In addition, there were a few others who wanted a booster dose.

Meanwhile, the district administration has issued instructions to carry out the Covid-19 testing in two shifts after there was a delay in receiving the test reports. Instructions have been issued to speed up the work at Punjab Biotechnology Incubator (PBTI) and other labs, so that the report of each test must be received before 24 hours and a patient isolated from others in time.

Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain held a meeting with the Civil Surgeon and PBTI officials after receiving complaints of delay in Covid test reports.

Rupinder Gill takes over as Civil Surgeon

Dr Rupinder Kaur Gill today assumed the charge as the new Civil Surgeon of the district. Dr Gill was earlier working as the acting Civil Surgeon of Moga district and was recently promoted as the Deputy Director. She had joined the Health Department as a medical officer in 1993. Her first appointment was at the Primary Health Centre in Chanarthal Kalan of Fatehgarh Sahib district. She was promoted as senior medical officer in the year 2016. “I would do my best for effective implementation of various national and state health programmes and schemes in the district. Improving the functioning of government health institutions in the district will be one of my top priorities,” she said.