Booster dose at nicvd: Elderly suffer for mismanagement

Hundreds of senior citizens suffered due to the mismanagement in administering Covid-19 booster shots at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease Institute and Hospital in Dhaka yesterday.

Visiting the hospital yesterday, this correspondent saw several elderly people standing in a long queue in front of the only booth for booster shots there.

"It is inhumane to make senior citizens stand in line for hours. This is cruelty to those who are physically disabled, and at least 20 percent of the people waiting are [disabled]," said Mohammad Ahsan Ullah, a 68-year-old physician, who came to the NICVD for his booster shot.

In his view, there were three other examples of mismanagement, including no signboard or placard indicating where the booster doses are available; no seating arrangement for the disabled; no separate lines for men and women, etc.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Hosne Ara, a 60-year-old kidney dialysis patient, said, "I am having to brace my hand against the wall for support as I have been standing in line for two hours."

Asked, Dr Shamsul Haque, a line director and member of the covid vaccine deployment committee at the health directorate, told The Daily Star, "The booster dose has been recently introduced while the regular campaign is also going on. So, there will be some issues, but we are trying to resolve them."

About increasing the number of booths, he said, "Even if we want to, we cannot set up additional booths right now."

The government on December 28 introduced the Covid-19 booster dose for frontliners and people over 60.