Forty-three percent of the respondents stated that they could not get vaccinated because the vaccination centres had run out of vaccines when they visited them and 12% did not get inoculated because they could not afford “the high prices” of the vaccine.

A COVID-19 ward is pictured in the Government Medical College Hospital in Manjeri, Malappuram district, Kerala, August 18, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Krishna N. Das

New Delhi: A third of Muslims, over 20% Dalits and Adivasis, and 30% of the overall respondents reported being discriminated against on grounds of religion, caste or because of illness or health conditions in hospitals or by healthcare professionals, claims a report.

Sharing the results of its rapid survey on the challenges with the COVID-19 vaccination drive in India on Tuesday, Oxfam India in its report noted that 43% of the respondents stated that they could not get vaccinated because the vaccination centres had run out of vaccines when they visited them and 12% did not get inoculated because they could not afford “the high prices” of the vaccine.

Nine percent of the respondents said they had to lose a day’s wages to get themselves vaccinated, according to report ‘Securing Rights of Patients in India’.

The NGO said the survey was conducted in two parts to cover the rights of patients against “some of the provisions” of the Union ministry for health and family welfare and India’s vaccination drive.

The survey on the patients’ rights charter of the health ministry was carried out between February and April and received 3890 responses, while the survey on India’s vaccine drive was conducted between August and September covering 10,955 respondents in 28 states and five union territories, it added.