Covid-19: Aster vaccinates 2,750 staff in two months

Supplied photo

Dubai - The first drive was conducted over a period of four days from Feburary 1 to 4 and spanned across five locations of Aster and Medcare Hospitals.

By Saman Haziq

Published: Thu 11 Mar 2021, 6:53 PM

Almost 3,000 employees of Aster DM Healthcare group were vaccinated in the first phase of its vaccination drive, according to Dr. Amit Singh, head of corporate human resources at the firm.

“This includes employees of Aster clinics and hospital, Medcare and Access group too,”

He added that the second phase of the vaccination will cover another 1,500 employees by Mid-March, followed by the last phase that will ensure all 7,000+ employees of the group are vaccinated.

“The first drive was conducted over a period of four days from Feburary 1 to 4 and spanned across five locations of Aster and Medcare Hospitals. This was replicated after three weeks from Feburary 22 to 25, 2021, to complete the second dose. The vaccination was administered to our frontline staff like ICU doctors, ER doctors, nurses from critical areas and other key departments of the hospitals including our support and enabling staff,” explained Dr Singh.

“All preliminary investigations and examinations were conducted and vaccinations were administered to the employees within the inclusion criteria as per the regulatory requirements. Almost 2,750 employees — 40 per cent — of our employees have been vaccinated and another 20 per cent will get their jab this month. Our vaccination drives are well organised, easy to access locations, all safety measures were maintained well and made us feel safe to be vaccinated. We continue to maintain strict Covid precautions as per the directives of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).

Alisha Moopen, deputy managing director of Aster DM Healthcare, said: “Healthcare workers have taken the maximum risks during this pandemic . Protecting this group of front line heroes should be and is the most important priority for nations and cities . Our first and foremost goal is to ensure that our team is safe and in the safe environment to extend the best care to our patients . Caring for healthcare workers and ensuring their well-being is a necessity for them to care for others.”

She added: “While offering accessible and quality healthcare to our patients remains our key objective, we strive our best to ensure that our internal stakeholders, our employees, who make all this possible are also taken care of. We have begun the Covid-19 vaccine drive at various units of Aster in the UAE and India exclusively for our employees and their families. This initiative will provide our employees with a sense of assurance as well as comfort that they and their families are protected against Covid-19 which will in turn enable us to treat our patients better.”

saman@khaleejtimes.com