File photo Nari Contractor.
Former Indian Test captain Nari Contractor and his wife failed to get the second doses of COVID-19 vaccination for the second time due to the unavailability of the vaccine in Mumbai. 88-year-old Contractor and wife Dolly (89), who is visually impaired, were denied entry at the Cama Hospital in Mumbai as they claimed no vaccination is available.
His son Hoshedar, who accompanied them to the hospital, took to social media to inform of the incident and added that his parents were registered on Cowin earlier.
“To get my parents ready for the shot it takes three hours to prepare them. Then to transport them to the centre is an ordeal for somebody who is immobile. Why were the appointments given if there were no vaccines? Just returning home from the centre. This is not the first time we were sent home without vaccination and hence wanted to share my frustration of how our public health system has failed. This is downright harassment!”
Nari and wife had their first dose on inoculation on March 5, since then the family is trying to get them their second dose within the stipulated period of 56 days.
Speaking to Sunday mid-day, Hoshedar said: “We can understand the shortage of vaccines. But scheduling is not rocket science. The slots should be open as per the availability of vaccines at the particular centre. This is not the first time… twice before I had to return after getting a message of cancellation 15 minutes before the scheduled time. There was no message this time.”
“We have been patiently waiting to get slots which are hard to come by and appointments were made as mandated. We get a slot at Cama Hospital on Saturday but the hospital refused to let us inside,” he added.
