Mayor says civic hospitals not in first phase list; due to employees protest, tells govt

North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash visited the COVID-19 vaccination centre at the state-run LNJP Hospital on Saturday and met healthcare workers, even as he rued that civic facility did not find a place in the list of final 81 sites chosen for the first phase of the mega exercise.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, interacting with reporters later, said the decision was taken due to ongoing strike of civic employees.

Four hospitals of North Delhi Municipal Corporation - Hindu Rao Hospital, Kasturba Hospital, Girdhari Lal Maternity Hospital and Rajen Babu TB Hospital were chosen for the dry run ahead of the roll-out.

The number of vaccination centres here was initially decided to be 89, which was scanned down to 75, and then again revised to 81.

Senior BJP leader Vijay Goel and North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash visited the LNJP Hospital ahead of the start of the vaccination roll-out drive.

Prakash told reporters that NDMC hospitals are not part of the phase one though the dry run was conducted there, and hoped they will be part of the next phase.

Jain, who later also visited LNJP Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, told reporters at RGSSH the vaccination has been initiated at maximum hospitals of the Delhi government.

''In the first phase, the healthcare workers will get it, followed by the frontline workers. It is a big day for the whole country...Due to the protest by MCD employees, the vaccination is not happening at MCD hospitals,'' Jain said.

From a 48-year-old nurse at LNJP Hospital to a sanitation staff of AIIMS, over 4,300 healthcare workers received their first shots on Saturday, with the Delhi health minister asserting that the COVID-19 vaccination drive was ''successfully conducted'' on the first day.

The Delhi government later also issued a statement, saying, ''There are some problems going on in the MCD because the workers are on strike and so keeping in mind that citizens of Delhi should not face any issue regarding vaccination, we have taken the decision''.

The Delhi government is committed to holding a successful vaccination drive and it is a responsibility to ensure that the citizens do not face any problem, it said.

Scores of employees of the three municipal corporations held a protest in front of the Civic Centre on Friday to press for their demands, which includes the release of their due salaries, according to a confederation of unions.

A P Khan, Convener of MCD Employees Union had said, the protesting members had also decided to ''boycott'' duty for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)