THANE: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) on Sunday dismissed a medical professional hired to oversee the functioning of the Covid centre and vaccination process at Mumbra after a cache of vaccine vials under her custody was found ‘smuggled’ out to a private clinic, officials said.
Mayor Naresh Mhaske said the professional, who was hired in June 2020 as a Covid contractual medical officer, was relieved of her term after a preliminary probe showed that Covid-19 vaccines meant for the civic vaccination centre were found at a private clinic owned by a political functionary. “We will probe if there has been any prior misuse of vaccine at the facility,” Mhaske added.
A senior officer from TMC’s health department, on condition of anonymity, said, “After we were alerted of an illegal vaccination camp being conducted at a hair transplant clinic, we rushed to the spot. We found three filled and one used vial from the civic stock at the clinic.”
The senior civic officer added: “Accordingly, we have relieved the professional from her responsibility at the facility till the investigation is completed. We have also written to the Mumbra police to investigate the matter further.”
The issue came to the fore after one of the beneficiaries who was waiting at the vaccination centre tipped off the civic body about vaccine vials being smuggled out of the facility. While 300 doses were to be delivered, only 150 beneficiaries were allotted tokens on Saturday.
Following the alert, a municipal team raided the clinic and were shocked to find it operating as a private Covid vaccination centre without any approval from the Thane civic corporation. The teams found three filled vaccine vials and an empty one.
On being questioned, the staff at the clinic admitted to have procured the vials from the municipal corporation facility. The facility has been sealed till investigations are completed, said sources.
The Mumbra police said that they have received a written application from the Thane Municipal Corporation informing them about the incident. However, the police added, no one has approached them so far to register a complaint.
