On Wednesday, April 7, the Bombay High Court (HC) sought response of the Union government on a petition requesting that door-to-door vaccination facility be made available for the citizens above 75 years and also for those people who cannot visit inoculation centres because they are either bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni also asked the Union government if the procedure laid down for registration for COVID-19 vaccination can be made more user friendly.
The bench also said that our nation would not follow any other foreign countries in terms of door-to-door vaccination drive for COVID-19. The HC said in fact other countries must be following India.
The HC was hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari urging the Centre and the Maharashtra government to provide door-to-door vaccination facility for senior citizens above the age of 75, for specially-abled persons, and also for those persons who are bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound.
"We are not trying to interfere with the government's policy on this issue. We are only seeing if any improvement can be made to the policy. The concern is that the process could be more user friendly and not lengthy," the bench said.
On the other hand, Chief Justice Datta noted that in the meetings held between the administrative committee of the HC and Mumbai civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal, it was said that an ICU is needed (at vaccination centres) so that a person can be observed after inoculation.
Meanwhile, government pleader Purnima Kanthari told the HC that there are certain conditions, including having a hospital set up for emergency medical aid and so on, that need to be followed by a vaccine centre. The court will hear the petition next on April 9.
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