KOLKATA: After a lull of about a month-and-half, vaccination queues have grown longer again at private hospitals across Kolkata, thanks to the return of second dose recipients who had received their first shot in May-June. While most hospitals have seen doubling of recipients’ number since the beginning of this week, at some places the increase has been more than six times.
At Medica Superspecialty Hospital, the surge in number this week has been sudden and dramatic. From just over 200 recipients On Thursday, the number touched 1,000 on Friday. It crossed 1,500 on Saturday.
“We had been expecting a surge but the increase has been very quick and huge. Till August 23, we had just over 200 a day. It has now gone up six times,” said Medica chairperson Alok Roy. He added that the hospital expects the rush to continue for a month and has enough doses to meet the demand.
“More than 80% are second dose recipients who had got their first shot during the second wave,” said Roy.
AMRI Hospitals inoculated around 1,300 across its three centres at Dhakuria, Mukundapur and Salt Lake on Saturday. At Dhakuria alone, the number of recipients crossed 600 while Mukundapur and Salt Lake recorded around 300 each. “The surge started on Wednesday and was expected. Around 80% of the crowd are second dose recipients. We expect the numbers to rise further by the first week of September. So, we have already placed an order for 20,000 doses while we hold around 12,000 in stock now,” said AMRI CEO Rupak Barua.
Peerless Hospital is among those which saw a sudden surge three days ago, when the number of recipients jumped from 200-plus to 482. “Those who got the first shot during the second wave are back. So, queues will now get longer. We expect the number to cross 600 in the next few days and are getting ready with enough stocks,” said Peerless CEO Sudipta Mitra.
He added that though the hospital had deferred requisition of doses during the interim lull, it will now procure enough to meet the rising demand. “The procurement process has got easier and faster. So, we expect a fresh consignment within the next few days,” added Mitra.
Belle Vue Clinic has seen a four-fold rise in recipients since Thursday. “While we vaccinated just 110 on Thursday, the number reached 474 on Friday and was more than 450 on Saturday,” said CEO P Tondon.
At Woodlands Hospital, too, there has been a 100% surge in recipients this week with number of recipients jumping to 200 from 100.
The crowd has been swelling at off-site centres as well. AMRI Hospitals, that offer vaccinations at South City mall and Acropolis, said the queues have started getting longer after a month-long lull. At Acropolis, around 300 received the shot on Saturday while the number of doses was around 150 at South City. “That apart, we have just received an order for 5000 doses from a software firm. So, September is going to be a busy month,” added Barua.
