Maharashtra prison department has started Covid-19 vaccination drive for the inmates at Arthur Road Jail or Mumbai Central Prison. Around 39 inmates were vaccinated till Saturday.
Sunil Ramanand, additional director general of police, Maharashtra prison department, confirmed that the vaccination drive at Arthur Road Jail started on Thursday, and added that the drive will be carried out across 46 prisons including central, district, open jails and sub-jails across Maharashtra.
Inmates from Arthur Road jail were taken to Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for the vaccination. On Thursday, 10 inmates were immunised, followed by 15 and 14 inmates on Friday and Saturday, respectively. “We have started the drive and are taking precautionary measures and following the guidelines by the state government. As per the guidelines, we started with inmates above the age of 60 years and those above 45 years with comorbidities and ailing inmates. However, inmates should have their Aadhaar card, which is mandatory for the vaccination drive,” said NB Vayachal, superintendent of police, Arthur Road jail.
Sources said the prison department had instructed all central and district jail to start the drive. Accordingly, all jail authorities sent letters to municipal commissioners and district collectors for arranging the vaccination drive for inmates.
“The jails will first take permission from the local court or district judge, and further coordinate with the administration to make the vaccine available for inmates,” an official from prison department said. He added, “Arthur Road jail authorities, after getting permission from the court, coordinated with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and accordingly started the drive at Kasturba Gandhi Hospital. In the past three days, 39 inmates were vaccinated as per the guidelines. The jail has 3,000 inmates currently, of whom more than 100 inmates, aged above 60 years and those with health issues aged above 45 years, will be vaccinated,” added the official.
{{/usCountry}}“The jails will first take permission from the local court or district judge, and further coordinate with the administration to make the vaccine available for inmates,” an official from prison department said. He added, “Arthur Road jail authorities, after getting permission from the court, coordinated with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and accordingly started the drive at Kasturba Gandhi Hospital. In the past three days, 39 inmates were vaccinated as per the guidelines. The jail has 3,000 inmates currently, of whom more than 100 inmates, aged above 60 years and those with health issues aged above 45 years, will be vaccinated,” added the official.
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Till date, around 50,142 prison inmates were tested for Covid-19 across 46 prisons in Maharashtra, as per data provided by Maharashtra prison department on Saturday. Of them, 2,743 tested positive for the disease. So far, 2,618 inmates have recovered and seven have died.
Meanwhile, around 3,492 jail staffers were tested till date, of whom 606 tested positive. So far, 570 staffers have recovered and eight lost their lives.
At Arthur Road jail, 4,230 inmates were tested. 210 inmates tested positive, of whom 184 have recovered. Of the 153 jail staff tested, 53 tested positive and 52 have recovered.
Yerawada Central Jail in Pune saw the highest number of Covid-19 cases among all the prisons across state. Around 7,084 inmates were tested, 366 tested positive and 341 have recovered. The jail also reported deaths of two inmates.
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