Lyari women get Covid jabs without CNICs

Several of them line up at largest vaccination centre of area

KARACHI:

*Sana Farhan stood in line with scores of women at the mega vaccination centre at Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (SMBB) Medical College in Lyari on Wednesday to receive her first Covid jab.

“I do not have my own CNIC [computerised national identity card],” she smiled sheepishly. “I know other [women] who got vaccinated without it [CNIC] as well,” she hastened to add.

She pointed at another woman sitting close by and said, “I got my husband’s card with me. It’ll suffice, I was told”.

Sana was not alone. Several other women who waited to receive the first dose of the vaccine in the long queue at the largest vaccination centre in Lyari were without CNICs as well.

“I just never needed one,” Sana told The Express Tribune. After she was 18 years of age and eligible to get one, Sana said the male members of her family brushed her off when she asked to get her CNIC made. They questioned why I would ever need one, she said, adding that the process to get the identity card made was so long and arduous anyway that she just managed without one.

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Now, in her mid thirties, Sana might get her first CNIC made as the staff at the vaccination centre told her she would need it for her second dose.

“More than 40 per cent of the women from Lyari did not bring their own CNICs but have been facilitated,” SMBB Medical College Principal Dr Anjum Rehman, told The Express Tribune.

Another resident of Lyari, Haleema, said she had come to get her first dose of the vaccine because her employees had insisted on it. “I told them I cannot manage to get my CNIC made but they told me to go to the centre and get it done.”

Haleema, a domestic worker, said her now deceased husband had never gotten his CNIC made. Since he didn’t have one, she couldn’t have one - or so she was told. Getting the CNIC made is such a hassle, they require so many documents at the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) that she never got one made, she said. “I do not have any identity proof but have a valid address of my employee.”

‘Conditional jabs’

People without CNICs are being entertained in accordance with the guidelines issued by the government, said Dr Rehman. “[But] we need to have some proof as to whether the person receiving the jab is a Pakistani national.

Elaborating further, she said a separate sheet is being maintained for people coming in without CNICs. “We enlist their complete address, the CNIC of any family member or anything else that may confirm their identity.”

Meanwhile, sources told The Express Tribune that the people who have been administered the first jab of the vaccine without CNICs have been directed to get their identification cards made by NADRA before they come for the second dose. “It is kind of a conditional [first] dose,” said one senior staffer, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We are actually giving them the chance to go to NADRA and bring their cards but at the same time they are not denied the vaccination.”

However, Dr Rehman denied that there were any conditions in place for the second jab. “It is not conditional but if they get their CNIC made it will make it easy for the government to track the number of citizens vaccinated,” she said.

Similarly, Sindh health department spokesperson Atif Vighio said that the Sindh government has instructed the staff at all vaccination centres in the province to entertain all the people coming to the centres. “[However] they need to provide B-Form, driving license or a family member’s CNIC,” he added. “If nothing is available then the person must provide the CNIC or address of his or her employer.”

However, not all persons are documented. Commenting on refugees or immigrants, Dr Saher Fatima, the focal person at the SMBB centre said that many undocumented Bengalis were entertained at the centre. “Do not expect all citizens to have CNICs in our country. [But] We have to accommodate such people if we really want to curb the virus.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2021.