Could have saved many lives with door-to-door vaccination: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said if the Union government had started doortodoor vaccination programme for senior citizens a few months back then lives of many of them including prominent persons could have been savedA division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni asked the Union government why not proactively start this programme when the lives of senior citizens who are unable to go to vaccination centres to get inoculated are concernedThe bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed by two lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari seeking doortodoor vaccination facility for senior citizens above the age of 75 speciallyabled persons and those who are bedridden or wheelchairboundThe court reiterated its earlier order of April 22 in which it asked the Union government to relook at its decision to not initiate a doortodoor vaccination programmeIt has been three weeks and the government Union is yet to inform us of its decision The government should have taken a decision one way or the other the court saidIt directed the Union government to file an affidavit by May 19 when it would hear the matter further The court noted that many foreign countries have already started doortodoor vaccination facilities In India we do many things late and things travel to our country very slowly Justice Kulkarni saidAlso Read Doortodoor vaccination not possible Union government to Bombay High CourtWhy not start this doortodoor vaccination proactively when the lives of senior citizens are concerned the court asked Speaking off the cuff if we had a doortodoor vaccination programme sometime back then so many of our senior citizens including prominent members of society from various walks of life who have lost their lives to Covid19 could have been saved Justice Kulkarni saidThe court further said it had seen photographs of senior citizens and many wheelchairbound persons waiting outside vaccination centres in long queuesThis was very heartrending and not a good sight They must be already suffering from so many ailments and now they face the risk of being infected with Covid19 also while waiting in such crowds the bench saidThe court noted that senior judges of the HC had a meeting with Birhanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Chahal on Tuesday where he said the civic body was planning to start wardwise vaccination camps from next week which would have the capacity to inoculate 70000 people per dayIf such camps are starting then maybe senior citizens and people who cannot step out of their homes can be identified and the staff can go to their homes and vaccinate them Chief Justice Datta suggestedThe bench directed the BMC to file an affidavit stating details of the same and by when it would begin and what steps the corporation plans to take for the next few days with regard to the vaccination programme The court noted that the availability of vaccines was also a problemTo this Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told the court that the Covishield vaccine would be made available in a few daysThe court also sought to know from the civic body about what measures it plans to take for the vaccination of homeless people beggars and those living on streetsThey are also a significant population and are spreaders of the coronavirus the HC saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever