Currently, as many as 41,000 people are vaccinated every day in 24 BMC and eight private hospitals(file) The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to conduct vaccination camps in housing societies to scale up the vaccination drive. The civic body is awaiting approval from the central government to set up such vaccination centres.
Mumbai is witnessing fluctuation in daily vaccination numbers due to low turnout among senior citizens. Currently, as many as 41,000 people are vaccinated every day in 24 BMC and eight private hospitals.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said on Wednesday, “The BMC has planned to make arrangements for vaccinations in housing societies. We have sent a letter to the central government seeking their permission. After a nod from the government, we will allow private hospitals to set up centres on the premises of housing societies.” He added, “Before granting permissions to hospitals, we will check if hospital teams have adequate medical facilities. We will check all aspects.”
To encourage turnout, the civic body will soon start vaccination in two shifts from 7 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 9 pm. Although the civic body has allowed vaccination centres to be run 24 hours, currently, the BMC centres shut at 5 pm. As per BMC records, more than 9.70 lakh people have been vaccinated in the city.
The BMC is taking help from social organisations and corporators to increase the vaccination numbers. In a recent meeting, Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal had instructed civic officials to include NGOs to spread awareness about Covid vaccination. “In private hospitals, at least 4,000 people are taking a daily jab, which is very low. So we are roping in social organisations to encourage more people to get vaccinated,” said a BMC official.
The move could be helpful in containing the spread of virus as most Covid-19 cases are coming from housing societies as compared to slums or chawls. BMC data shows that over 90 per cent cases were from housing societies or individual buildings in the past two months. There are more than 5,500 active sealed floors of buildings.
With 1 lakh daily jabs, the BMC has set a target of vaccinating 45 lakh people in the next 45 days. The civic body has also sent a letter to increase vaccination centres in private hospitals. Currently, there are 100 vaccination centres across the city. The BMC is hopeful that the daily vaccination numbers will rise with increase in numbers of vaccine centres. The BMC has said it will try to complete vaccination of all those who have taken their first jab by May 31.
Kakani said the BMC will gradually increase daily testing up to one lakh. The BMC has already crossed daily testing up to 40,000 in the last few days.
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