Rtn.Ashok Deorah Former President of Rotary Club of Bombay West, shared the details of their initiated Private Covid Vaccination Center.
Mumbai: Rotary Clubs as a service empowering establishment, no matter what the circumstance held they invariably reached forward and attempted to bestow as considerable backing as feasible. Likewise, the Rotary Private COVID Vaccination Center by Rotary Club of Bombay West is a successful Project by them.
Getting vaccinated is a tremendous dilemma being faced by the community, especially those among the 18 to 45 age group. The MCGM centers simply are not apt to cater to this group. And similarly, the Private Hospitals having paid vaccines only for people getting the limited appointment slots that open up daily.
The first topic in all conversations among friends and relatives is “Have you got Vaccinated” “Oh yes I managed to obtain the appointment slots” or “the appointment slot software is rigged, we have been trying for last 15+ days without luck”
Looking at this and the mental distress of not getting vaccinated, even after paying for the vaccines indicated a recourse for service by getting private vaccination without the online appointments but rather pre-scheduled appointments in a more cordial atmosphere without massing.
They started by discussing the BSES-MG hospital for 5000 Vaccines 2 months ago.
First idea: To get 5000 vaccines for the Rotary Club of Bombay West for members and their families and friends, our 7 Rotaract Clubs and their colleges, and their families and friends but the response was not very great. In the meanwhile, many Rotary and Rotaract Clubs began contacting them that they would like to join the drive. As all are a part of the Rotary family, they agreed to this idea.
Have formulated Google forms for pre-registrations and shared the form with them. likewise approached friends of Rotarians for bulk bookings, and through multiple channels, they got multiple inquiries.
So they began working on 5000 vaccines. Once the payment gateway link was circulated, collected all the registrations and commenced giving time slots.
According to the slots, all Rotary Club Leaders were given club Slots, so that people From the same club were asked to come together. This gave them a chance to meet each other and have a mini-fellowship [missing due to the pandemic.] Individual registered persons were intimated about their time slots also.
Further, Lots of people appeared out-of-their-slots and time which was extremely complicated to manage. They had 8 Rotaractors as volunteers who assisted greatly with verifications and 7 NMIMS IT staff who alike volunteered in the registration process. The biggest challenge was verifying the people who had paid for vaccinations.
On the 1st Day had some teething issues and PP Rtn Rajendra Ruia and President Dr.Manoj Patel themselves were doing the verifications, due to a lack of volunteers.
2nd Day with the volunteer support and a better system, things worked. It was raining very heavily so they had a difficult time. Successfully vaccinated approx 1900 people in the first two days.
Keeping the “Orange weather warning” in mind, postponed the drive, as people had troubles traveling and all needed to be completely safe.
All vaccinations were committed at Shri Patidar Mandal hall, Vile Parle East, but due to modifications in the dates, this Venue was not available. Switching the venue to Rotary Service Center, Santacruz West vaccinated the remaining people, which denoted the successful fulfillment of the drive.
Along with are grateful to the volunteers who made this apparent. All Rotary clubs benefited in getting the community vaccinated, especially the youth in the 18+ age group who were not getting vaccines handily. Special mention to the Rotary Club of Mumbai Parleshwar and Rotary Club of Mumbai Coastline for all their help throughout the campaign.
News Input by Radhika Joshi
