By Vyshnavy Velrajh
A website introduced to register the public for Covid vaccination has been temporarily taken down.
State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics, and COVID Disease Control Sudharshini Fernandopulle told Colombo Gazette that the website, https://ehr.lk/, was introduced to enable people to register to receive the vaccine.
She said the website was also launched to provide information on the virus and various programmes that were implemented to contain the spread in the country.
However, she said the website was taken down as the Ministry could not assign people to overlook the process due to existing Covid-related duties.
As a result, she said the website for registration has been taken down after nearly 50,000 people had visited the site.
Another key reason for the website to be taken down was the observation that it was not accessible for people in rural areas.
“The purpose of this website is to collect public information to streamline the vaccination and the process of primary (first contact) healthcare delivery. The personal information and the healthcare facility preferences will be used to improve the delivery and administration efficiency when the vaccines are available to general public. This website is currently being updated and will be available shortly,” a notice now appearing on the website states.
State Minister Fernandopulle said the website was introduced as a pilot project to study the response of the public with regard to the virus and the vaccination process.
She said the pilot project was a success, as the officials were able to collect data on the pros and cons related to the coronavirus and the views of the public.
The State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics, and COVID Disease Control further said the data collected via the pilot project will be utilized to consider the possibility of how best it could contribute to the Covid containment programmes and vaccination process. (Colombo Gazette)