People will be allowed to complete one online registration against one cellphone number for Covid-19 vaccines.
Experts however said this process will make the online registration process more difficult for people who are poor or live in remote areas with limited access to ICT technology. The government needs to simplify the process to make it more accessible, they have advised.
State Minister of Information and Communication Technology Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, while replying to a question during a press briefing at the Prime Minister’s Office, said: “Families who have only one cellphone can take assistance from the over 6,000 digital centres throughout the country.”
“We will not allow more than one registration against one cellphone number,” he added.
According to the state minister, initially only the prioritized, frontline workers and anyone above 55 years of age can register into the vaccination system, which would be some 40 million people.
Additional Director General of DGHS Meerjady Sabrina Flora said people with severe co-morbidity, like uncontrolled diabetes or under cancer medication like immuno-suppresants, pregnant women and people aged under 18 would not be considered eligible for vaccination in the first phase.
Palak said online registration would begin after the vaccination program was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 27.
However, officials from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said that although it had primarily been decided that the online registration would be open after the PM inaugurated the program, no date had been fixed yet.
State Minister of Information and Communication Technology Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak briefing reporters about the Covid-19 vaccination management system on January 25, 2021 Dhaka Tribune
When contacted, Prof Dr Rashid-E-Mahbub, chairman of the National Committee on Health Rights Movement and former president of the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), said providing distorted or partial information could discourage people and therefore the government should simplify the procedure.
National data would be used for screening and verification while the cellphone number would be just a method of communication. So the base of the activities should be national IDs, he opined.
If the authorities needed a contact number for following up on the vaccine takers’ health, they could do two things. They could collect the number manually or leave an option to enter a family member’s number.
Otherwise, people in remote areas would be left behind, he observed.
Also read: 5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses arrive in Dhaka
Meanwhile, replying to a question, DGHS Director General Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam said the DGHS was discouraging changing residence while a person is taking the vaccine.
As the centre for the vaccination would be assigned based on current address, if a person changed his location “It would cause wastage of some doses of vaccine,” he added.
The online vaccination management system
ICT Minister Palak said: “The website for the system is www.shurokkha.gov.bd. Although we have not given permission till now, the android app for the registration has been developed. However, the app for IOS users is still under development.”
The app would have two versions – one for vaccine takers and one for vaccinators.
The state minister said to protect the system from unwanted tricks, the authorities had taken a three-way verification measure.
“Only NID confirmation would not work. The date of birth in the birth certificate and NID need to match to start the process. Then OTP (One time password) generated by the system has to be confirmed,” Palak added.
“Technical capacity is a burning question. For early management we are increasing our database capacity to more than 120 million,” said the ICT state minister said while replying to a question.
Meanwhile, in his remarks, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Ahmad Kaikaus said the team working to build the system and apps were young and energetic. “And I hope that if any problem arises regarding the app they will fix it quickly.”
Senior Secretary of ICT division NM Zeaul Alam and Health Service Division Secretary Abdul Mannan were present at the program.