MUMBAI: Bombay Hospital, Marine Lines, has sought BMC’s nod to carry out vaccination for extended hours. Many civic centres too have said that they could start the drive early in the day and continue till late evening. However, there’s one hitch: Co-Win doesn’t allow sessions beyond 5pm-6pm. And vaccines can’t be given on an offline mode as it will mean huge backend work, BMC officials said.
Dr Gautam Bhansali of Bombay Hospital said they can vaccinate till 10pm, which could allow many to come after office hours. “The BMC chief has agreed to it in principle,” said Dr Bhansali.
Despite health minister Harsh Vardhan’s assurance last week that the government has done away with the 9am-5pm time window and that recipients can take the vaccine round the clock, the change has not been completely implemented. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said that the app still doesn’t allow vaccinations beyond 5pm-6pm. “Once the app shuts, we can’t check beneficiaries or administer doses. Initially, even we wanted to start vaccination in two shifts so more people could be covered, but we haven’t managed due to the app restrictions,” he said, adding that Bombay Hospital was yet to submit a written request and the Centre’s nod would be needed.
Mumbai’s 60 centres administered a record number of 37,309 vaccine doses on Saturday. Civic officials said they are trying to push it to 50,000. On Monday, number of centres is likely to be pushed to 70. “Our goal is to increase it to 100 in coming weeks. The turnout we are seeing lately is around 150%-200%. It means teams are working under enormous pressure which could be leading to burnout in vaccinators if the load is not eased,” Kakani added.
Among civic centres, BKC jumbo hospital’s vaccination centre has most footfalls at an average of 4,000 daily. People queue up from 6.30am. “If the app allows, we can start from 7am and go on till 10pm. Two shifts can double daily coverage,” said dean Dr Rajesh Dere.