Jab at doorstep: Bombay HC seeks BMC’s decision today – Times of India

MUMBAI: The Bombay HC has asked the municipal commissioner to apprise it on Thursday whether it is possible for BMC to conduct door-to-door vaccination for the elderly and the disabled, despite the Centre’s disinclination.
“We request the municipal commissioner or the additional municipal commissioner to apprise us whether disinclination of the central government to formulate door-to-door vaccination policy for elderly and disabled citizens notwithstanding, the corporation is prepared to introduce it for such citizens and undertake measures for their vaccination upon making them aware of the consequences, under proper medical care and upon obtaining consent of either such citizens (if they are in a position to accord such consent) or their near relatives, for being vaccinated in pursuance of the order of this court,” said a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni in its order on Wednesday.
The HC was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari for doorstep shots to the elderly and bedridden, a helpline to register and jabs for the homeless or others without ID cards.
Additional solicitor general Anil Singh for the Centre said a special expert panel headed by Dr N K Arora, chair Covid working group committee, met on May 15 to discuss the door-to-door jab issue. The panel recommended among other things making transport arrangements to help take the elderly and the disabled to vaccination centres.
The panel proposed that “based on the learnings from Routine Immunization, a Community based Outreach Session (COS) will be organized to provide COVID 19 vaccines to a defined population.” These COS will be organized specially for target population while vaccination for all other age groups will continue at designated CVCs, according to the panel.
Singh said standard operating procedure (SOP) for the elderly based on the expert panel’s discussion is “under consideration”, hence no order be passed at this stage.
The CJ observed orally that the experts are “academically brilliant but they have zero knowledge of ground reality.” The CJ said, “I do not know about Mumbai, but I can tell about my parent city, old (North) Calcutta. There are buildings where even a stretcher cannot be taken inside…if there is no room to bring them, how will you transport them?” Justice Kulkarni said that there are narrow lanes in Mumbai too. Singh said there are many such places in India where lanes and entrances are narrow, including Varanasi. “There are many such households in our country. People cannot step out…How do you cater to the needs of those people?” asked the CJ-led bench adding, “You must cover maximum people in society.”
Singh said, “We are also concerned. If people are totally bedridden, the new SOP to be issued will consider the issue…This (lack of door-to-door policy) is not a permanent guideline …it is temporary, considering the present situation.”
The HC noted that it had used “strong language’’ in its April 22 order when it had asked the Centre to take a relook at its stand.
Kapadia pointed to a news article to argue that the BMC claimed to have written to the Centre for permission to conduct door-step vaccinations and cited a civic officer saying 1.5 lakh old and bedridden people in Mumbai could have been vaccinated. “The corporation ought to make its stand clear,” the HC said.