Snehal Upadhyay-
The High Court of Bombay has directed the Government of Maharashtra to frame a policy or guidelines for having a door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens and for those who are bedridden.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni ordered this while hearing to a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari demanding for having a door-to-door vaccination for citizens above 75 years and wheelchair-bound.
Senior counsel Anil Sakhare represents the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation reportedly said to the Court that it conducted a survey for in-home vaccination and the survey showed 2,780 bedridden patients across 24 wards.
As per the database shared by the civic body, as of July 14, R Central Ward had the highest number of bedridden people at 297. The survey till now is conducted in seven wards and is still going on in 17 wards.
The Counsel further reported that the corporation has received 13,584 responses from social media for seeking vaccination at home.
The bench said, “We are not satisfied with the progress. The advertisement needs to be published in newspapers. You should come with a policy otherwise the vaccination drive will get delayed.”
Advocate Kapadia suggested the state government should set up a helpline number for the bedridden citizen and to advertise it widely.
The matter will be further heard on July 20.