Phuentsholing Thromde in full preparation for the historic day

Rajesh Rai | Phuentsholing

Chukha, including Phuentsholing thromde, and Samtse are all set to roll out the vaccination programme today.

In Chukha, preparations have been made by the dzongkhag administration.

The dzongkhag deputy chief health officer, Gopal Hingmang, said all the health workers have been trained on how to use the Bhutan Vaccination System Portal and BVS offline Mobile App.

“We also completed the virtual meetings with regional heads, gups, gewog administration officers, mangmis, and health assistants,” he said. “The dzongkhag administration has also deployed medical officers in six vaccination clusters.”

There are 75 vaccination posts under Chukha dzongkhag.  The first batch of health teams are moving to Getana, Dungna, Metekha gewogs and Baikunza chiwog starting from March 25, 2021, Gopal Hingmang said.

Chukha has received 27,859 vaccines on March 23 for 29,997 people eligible for the vaccination.

It was learnt 28,882 people, excluding Phuentsholing thromde, have registered for the vaccination out of which 14,604 are male and 14,216 are female.  About 271 people disabled or with chronic illness will be vaccinated at the place of their residence.

There are 106 vaccinators, who have been trained for the programme.  About 234 desuups and another 30 supporting staff will also help the vaccination programme in Chukha that starts today.

In Phuentsholing thromde, a 30-year old woman, who is a civil servant and a frontline worker, will be the first person to take the vaccine at the Phuentsholing middle secondary school.

Under the thromde, 21,138 people have registered for the vaccination as of 4:30pm yesterday.  Of the total, 11,671 are men, 3,762 people have health conditions, 478 are breastfeeding mothers and 128 are pregnant women.

It was learnt that 320 people opted not to receive the vaccination.  Phuentsholing thromde received 19,700 doses of vaccines.

Drungkhag health officer, Passang Tshering, said they have informed the health ministry for more vaccines.  Phuentsholing thromde has six vaccination centres, while Phuentsholing gewog has seven.

A total of 86 health staffs and over 79 desuups will help in the vaccination programme.

Samtse

Although Samtse received a total of 44,250 vaccines, the dzongkhag has kept a tentative projection of 45,706.

Dzongkhag’s senior health officer, Thinley Choden, said the numbers kept on increasing as people registered at the last minute.  By 3:55pm yesterday, Samtse had registered a total of 46,354 people for vaccination.  At the same time frame, a total of 7,518 people with health issues have also registered for the vaccination programme.

“However, the registration includes both pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children below 18,” she said.

If pregnant and breastfeeding women are willing to take the vaccine, the health ministry has made it clear that they will be provided the vaccination.

Meanwhile, despite the overwhelming number of registrations, Thinley Choden said the vaccines would be enough to vaccinate all the eligible people of Samtse.

Samtse has trained and prepared 24 teams headed by two to three health officials.  In the remote gewogs, a doctor each has been identified, while two gewogs near the dzongkhag administration will have a doctor each.

“All of them have been sent to their respective places after the briefing by dzongdag,” Thinley Choden said.

To start the vaccination programme, two 30-year-old women, a teacher, who will take the first shot, and a nurse, who will give the shot, have also been identified in Samtse.