MUMBAI: Till Wednesday, 602 bedridden people had received Covid-19 vaccination at home out of the 4,715 who had registered for it, the BMC informed Bombay high court on Thursday.
A week into the state’s introductory home jab policy for the bedridden and the immobile, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni submitted Maharashtra’s policy saying it has got off to a good start. Senior counsel Anil Sakhare for the BMC said to administer the vaccine, a two-member team, comprising a doctor and a nurse, visits homes of the registered people along with an ambulance. Sakhare said in Mumbai, administered doses total 73,36,171.
Beneficiaries face difficulty in getting fitness certificates from doctors that state they will be bedridden for at least six months, the BMC submitted in HC.
Advocate Dhruti Kapadia who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in April for a door-to-door policy, in which the court had gently nudged the state via orders into action, questioned the role of NGOs which were in collaboration with the BMC for the drive. She said where the fitness certificate is not possible, the BMC could send its doctors to check the person. She reiterated the need for a helpline.
The HC bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni asked Kapadia to let the drive continue saying, “there may be some teething troubles at the start’’. HC adjourned the matter to August 12. It sought an affidavit from the BMC on the NGOs’ role and an update on the jabs.
