The Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner on Tuesday, March 9, has allowed the hospitals to carry out 24x7 vaccination drives, as per the available resources.
This development came after it was observed that hundreds of senior citizens were seen waiting for hours in line as Co-Win abruptly stopped working at several centres, bringing the drive to a halt. Many of them, who were waiting for nearly 2 hours, decided to leave. The resident further said that rescheduling appointments were not a choice as the next slots are in April.
A total of 43,581 were immunised on Tuesday, March 9, up from Monday’s count of 40,502. Out of which, there were 30,624 senior citizens; however, 6,356 were healthcare workers, followed by people above 45 years and with co-morbidities (3,877), and 2,724 frontline workers.
The city has inoculated a total of 4.34 lakhs since the beginning of the vaccination drive on January 16. Due to the glitch, the state government did not release any updated data on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, BMC’s additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the decision to allow immunisation centres to operate 24x7 was taken to accelerate the drive. In addition, the civic body has written to the Centre to allow another 49 private hospitals to participate.
BMC plans to push the daily numbers of vaccinated people to 75,000. Hospitals will also be allowed to operate on Sundays. for this, there is a need for adequate manpower at centres to deal with serious adverse events.
Currently, there are 68 centres, including 24 BMC facilities, six state and Central government hospitals and 38 private hospitals that are vaccinating through 184 booths.
A few days ago, Bombay Hospital, which is a private hospital, in Marine Lines had written to the government to run for extended hours till 10 pm.
Moreover, the biggest centres like the BKC jumbo field hospital, SevenHills and a few medical colleges may start vaccination in two shifts 7 am to 2 pm and 2 pm to 9 pm.
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