From Zack Meta
People with appointments and walk-ins scrambled to get inoculated, causing chaos yesterday morning at the coronavirus vaccine hub at iHEAL Medical Centre in Mid Valley Megamall.
They paid no heed to Covid-19 SOPs as they tried to get ahead while standing close to each other in long queues.
The disorder depicted a lack of concern and left me wondering whether the authorities have given up managing the Covid-19 crisis.
The mismanagement and miscommunication at the centre raise the question of why walk-ins were allowed in at the same time as those with appointments.
Instead of maintaining appointment time slots, why were people made to compete for a spot in a space where there was no physical distancing?
My appointment was at 9.30am but I got my booster shot only at 11am, and during that time the elderly, like me, experienced a great deal of inconvenience.
Our disappointment was over the poor information and coordination at the venue, overcrowding, long waits, long queues and the lack of volunteers to direct the recipients to the right queue.
My frustration began when I had to rush into a packed elevator to get to the sixth floor. Upon reaching there, I noticed a big crowd gathered around a table manned by some youngsters who looked overwhelmed.
One of the youngsters made an announcement asking us to take a seat and that a vaccine-taking form would be brought to us. When that didn’t happen, I took the form myself and filled it.
When I enquired if I was in the right queue for those with appointments, someone told me to go to the next line which was for walk-ins.
It was 10.30am and despite telling the staff that my appointment was an hour earlier, nothing happened.
In the meantime, more walk-ins were rushing in to an already overcrowded and stuffy venue where there were a few industrial fans but inadequate air movement.
Annoyance mounted as nothing was done to stop the walk-ins at the entrance or to stop them from getting ahead of those with appointments.
At 11am, I was allowed to take a congested elevator to the seventh floor to receive my booster jab. It was more orderly here but on my return, it was back into a crammed lift and an environment littered with SOP violations.
From the lack of coordination, it seemed the vaccination centre was not prepared to receive a high number of people despite having data on registered vaccine takers.
Perhaps the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) members could have been roped in to better coordinate the flow of people, and to especially help senior citizens.
While I understand the strain of crowd control, vaccine centres should be more considerate and sensitive toward vaccine-takers, especially senior citizens.
Zack Meta is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.