High demand and low supply of vaccines, along with an increasing rush for Covid-19 tests, have come as a major challenge for Bengal’s health infrastructure amid the second wave of Covid-19.

Sources said at every hospital in south Bengal districts, people, including senior citizens, are queuing up for vaccines from as early as 3am or 4am, fearing they will miss out on the jab if they come at 10am when counters open, or later.

Health department sources said that as of Wednesday morning, around 1.02 crore vaccine doses had been administered in Bengal, the fifth on the list of states with most doses already administered.

Health officials said those coming in for their second doses are also facing problems now, even though many hospitals have stopped providing the first dose altogether.

On Wednesday, over 250 people queued up at the Bolpur Subdivisional Hospital from the wee hours, seeking vaccines for first and second doses. However, the infrastructure at the hospital could only handle the vaccination of 150 persons as many staff members had tested positive for Covid-19.

“After the second wave of the pandemic acquired lethal proportions, demand for vaccines shot up. Plus, at least four of our staff members got infected. It is a challenge for us to vaccinate all the people in the lines,” said a health official at the Bolpur hospital.

A woman gets vaccinated in Burdwan. Munshi Muklesur Rahaman

The scenes were similar at hospitals in Hooghly, Murshidabad and East Burdwan, as many elderly persons had to return without getting vaccinated despite hours of waiting.

Ujjwal Mondal, 62, a resident of Khagra in Murshidabad, had to return home for three days after queuing up for seven hours each day for his second dose. He finally got the vaccine on Tuesday after queuing up from 4am at the Behrampore Sadar Hospital.

“I was in queue from 4am. I got a coupon at 8am. My serial number was 241. So I went home, but returned at 1.30pm....I got the injection later in the afternoon,” said Mondal who had taken the first dose of the vaccine 52 days ago.

Health officials said such harassment was the result of low supply in the face of ever-increasing demand.

“We try to keep stocks for emergencies, but the demand is so high now, that everything is falling short,” said a senior health official in Murshidabad.

Trinamul vice-president Saugata Roy lambasted the BJP-led Centre for the pan-India crisis. “The crisis is a result of low supply and improper planning of the Centre… it could have and should have been better handled,” he said.

On Wednesday, Bengal reported 17,207 new cases detected in a day, 77 deaths and active cases crossing 1.05 lakh.

Vaccines apart, health officials have also been struggling to test a far higher number of people at the same time.

“Exactly a month ago, 26,545 tests were needed to be conducted in a day in Bengal. Today, 54,936 tests had to be conducted. That should tell you how much the pressure has increased (on us),” said a health department official.

He said when the capacity of an RT-PCR unit is to test 300 samples in a shift, at least 1,200 samples come in now. “It is impossible for technicians to test four times the capacity. We are trying to get more rapid tests done,” he said. Prior to this, if a person was found negative in a rapid test, a sample would be sent for an RT-PCR test for confirmation. “But now, we are going by whatever the rapid tests say, except in seriously symptomatic cases,” said an official.