NAGPUR: Two days after the state government allowed Covid-19 vaccination of bedridden patients, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) initiated its plan of a special drive for such citizens in the next couple of days. This is another special effort by the civic body after camps for foreign-bound students, drive-in for elderly, Muslim community and the latest being for the transgender community.
Additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi told TOI that a Google form would be floated on Tuesday and posted on the NMC website. “Relatives can fill up the form on behalf of a bedridden family member. People who are immobile due to loss of limbs, old age or a particular illness would get the jab at home. They would need to show a medical certificate,” he said.
Unlike the government’s move seeking registration through the email id covidvacc2bedridden@gmail.com, NMC allows direct enrolment which will help start the drive at the earliest.
Once the civic body gets two or more eligible applicants, it will send a team to inoculate them with Covishield vaccine. Applications will be accepted for a couple of days and if the numbers are high enough, the drive would be started the next day.
“For the first three days, we will wait to see how many applications come. No specific schedule has been fixed. It can be in every two days or more,” Joshi said.
The beneficiaries would be informed in advance about the arrival of NMC’s inoculation team. They will also wait for 30 minutes after giving the injection, Joshi said.
Meanwhile, NMC and district administration started a special drive for transgender people and the homeless at Sarath Trust office in Sitabuldi and Karabi, respectively, on Monday.
The vaccination drive again slowed down at all centres as the NMC ran short of Covishield doses. In a press note, the civic body informed that the drive would be held in a limited manner for all age groups on Tuesday.
The civic body also ran short of Covaxin doses. The limited drive at a couple of centres too would have come to a halt if the NMC did not receive 1,200 doses of Covaxin. On Friday and Saturday, some of the centres had to shut at 2pm due to lack of Covaxin doses.
