News
Orderly situation in Dehiwela
I got the COVID-19 vaccine yesterday.
Coming under the Dehiwela MOH office, I was advised to go to the S.de S. Jayasinghe Hall, adjacent to the Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council not too early in the morning, and so I went at 12.45 p.m. hoping to avoid the crowds.
What a contrast to some of the situations I have seen elsewhere including the CMC area, even though the catchment area of the MOH is very large.
The officials were just about to close the gate but when they saw a small crowd, they decided to take some more people into the premises. Just outside the gate, a small marquee had been set up with chairs for people to wait.
In the premises, there were two queues for two different specified areas, and at these desks, the National Identity Card (NIC) was checked and the blank ‘COVID-19 Vaccination Card’ and a Consent Form were issued, with a request to fill the latter and proceed go to a Registration Desk ‘manned’ by two female officials. There were many staff members not only from the MOH office but also drawn from the DMMC guiding people on what to do including where the pens were and directing them to seats.
At the Registration Desk, the Consent Form was collected, the NIC checked once again and the Vaccination Card and a register filled by the two female officials. Looking around to see what next, healthcare staff immediately guided me to a seat where a PHI – one of many nurses and PHIs – administered the jab to my left upper arm. It didn’t hurt.