As the Maharashtra government might soon start the next phase of vaccination, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has said that 227 centres would be open to citizens aged above 18 years.
The BMC started reaching out to all its 227 corporators on Wednesday, April 29, asking for locations where they may want to set up vaccination centres.
The 63 existing BMC and government vaccination centres will be available for those in the age category of 45 years plus. New 227 BMC centres will be opened, one in each corporator ward and for all citizens in the 18 years plus category, said Chahal.
Currently, too, there are 73 vaccination centres in private hospitals, which would be increased to 100 to vaccinate all citizens aged above 18.
Civic corporators, though, have demanded that these centres must be started only if the BMC can be assured of definite stocks of the vaccines.
According to sources, Samajawadi Party corporator and MLA Rais Shaikh said they have identified a hall at Clare Road in Byculla where a vaccination centre could be started. Besides, Congress corporator Ravi Raja said he has identified a school in Sion Koliwada.
Meanwhile, civic officials said they plan to set up help desks in slums where citizens may find it inconvenient to register themselves.
Even as the serosurvey recorded a decline in the seropositivity in slum areas, the civic body has maintained that slum areas remain in focus when it comes to the detection of coronavirus cases and vaccination. According to BMC officials, it is crucial to focus on the slum areas as the new variant of the current virus spreads fast.
In addition, experts have also opined that another solution to control spread in densely populated slums is also to ensure that vaccination is done on a priority basis.
Earlier, Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister, Aaditya Thackeray had called for vaccination centres to be set up across all 227 electoral wards in Mumbai to speed up the inoculation process.
Share
Tweet
