The times are really hard for most people. The whole country faced two waves of covid-19, and is now on the edge- fearing the possible third wave. But in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, conditions seem to be much worse. Continuous rains from many days,leading to floods in many regions, have made everyday life much harder in the district. At the same time, like every other district, the vaccination campaign against covid-19 is also going ahead. It is tough to complete the target of 100% vaccination in the district with all these natural phenomena. However, the district administration under the leadership of District Collector Pranav Kumar is doing everything to continue with the vaccination. Due to their efforts the city has been fully vaccinated with the first dose and overall vaccination in the district have also reached to 40%.
During a conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr Kumar, the 2008 batch officer talked about his special initiative of vaccination through boats and other challenges the administration has been facing.
Tika wali Nao (Vaccination’s boat)
Muzaffarpur district has been witnessing heavy rainfall for months now. This has left many areas including Katra, Gayghat and Aurai reeling under flood water. Due to this, the vaccination drive has been witnessing a set-back. Referring to the flood situation, the DC said, “We have seen two waves of Covid-19 and third one is expected. Right now, the only way to prevent the onset of pandemic is 100% vaccination. However, with the floods we were not able to start the vaccination campaign in many areas. This would pose a major challenge in the coming months if the third wave hits us.”
So, to keep up the speed of vaccination, the administration has started a unique initiative called ‘Tika Wali Nao’. This was started with Katra which was most affected with floods but now the initiative has been extended to two other districts including Gayghat and Aurai.
Everyday two beautifully decorated boats visit the affected area to vaccinate the people who can’t come to the center. The campaign is about to complete two months and every day at least 200 people are being vaccinated through this novel technique.
The officer says, the boat has its limit to carry vaccine and we also have our monetary limitation so the campaign is continued by two boats in the flood-affected areas.
The challenges were harder in first wave
Mr. Kumar was posted as DC, Bhagalpur when the first wave of Covid19hit the district. He also suffered from Coronavirus last year, which made the situation difficult for him. He says, “Every day we were managing 180 trains reaching Bhagalpur. I have lost the count of migrants we helped to reach home, but 150-200 buses used to carry them on every single day from railway station to their native places. At the same time, ensuring their health was also a big task”.
Bhagalpur Medical College was also declared as Covid dedicated hospital during the first wave. Patients from various other neighbouring district were trooping down to the hospital. Under his leadership the Bhagalpur Administration ensured that each one of them went back home in a healthy state.
“The first wave was disturbing the psychological health of the patients. It was unprecedented and nobody was familiar with this. All we knew is that positivity is what a patient needs while going through a treatment. But, in that situation they were not able to even meet their families for the emotional support. So, we started psychiatric sessions and music therapy for the wellness of the patients,” said Mr Kumar.
The DC believes that lessons learnt from the first wave helped him lot while managing Muzaffarpur during the second wave.
