Mumbai civic body sends notice to housing society for vax drive details

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday sent a notice to Hiranandani Heritage, Kandivli, seeking detailed information about the vaccination drive conducted on their premises on May 30 for internal inquiry

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday sent a notice to Hiranandani Heritage, Kandivli, seeking detailed information about the vaccination drive conducted on their premises on May 30 for internal inquiry. Preliminary investigation has also shown that the housing society didn’t sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with any hospital before the drive, which is in violation of the civic body’s rule.

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“Through social media, we got to know about the incident where residents alleged that they did not receive vaccination certificates. Also, there are claims that of the 390 beneficiaries, not a single person developed minor side effects such as fever or body ache after being administered the jab. So, we need to know the nitty-gritty of the drive for our own investigation,” said Sanjay Kurhade, assistant municipal commissioner of R-South ward.

When asked how vials were procured for the vaccination drive and logged into the centralised CoWIN app with the login details of employees of other hospitals, he said, “We can’t comment until we get the details. We have also written to the police who are already investigating the matter,” he added. Later, the BMC in a statement announced that they will submit the report of their internal inquiry on the incident within 48 hours. The civic body also urged citizens to follow guidelines while conducting vaccination drive, and to check ID cards of coordinators visiting their societies from other hospitals or vaccination centres. “In addition to signing an MoU with the concerned private vaccination centre for immunisation, the identity card of the employees who have come for immunisation from the centre should also be verified. Beneficiaries should be urged to get digital certificates immediately after vaccination,” read the statement. BMC urged the public to inform the health officer from their ward if they observe any suspicious matter.

The Kandivli beneficiaries have received vaccination certificates in the names of Nanavati Max Super Speciality and Lifeline Hospitals along with the civic-run NESCO jumbo centre, Goregaon who weren’t involved in the vaccination drive. So, the civic body has asked for the vaccination certificates received by the beneficiaries for cross-verification.

However, around 120 beneficiaries are yet to receive the certificates. “Since the time we have raised the issue about the dubious role in the vaccination drive, the remaining beneficiaries have stopped receiving messages about their pending certificates,” said Hitesh Patel, a resident of the society.

Society has violated BMC’s rule

In May, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued detailed guidelines permitting housing societies and workplaces (private) to tie up with private hospitals/ Covid vaccination centres (CVC) to hold vaccination drives on their premises. So, on May 30, Hiranandani Heritage held a vaccination drive for the residents. As alleged, a person named Mahendra Singh who claimed to be associated with Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri promised to conduct the drive in association with the hospital.

But primary investigation into the “spurious” vaccination drive revealed that the society didn’t sign an MoU with the hospital. Also, in violation of BMC rules, the society didn’t even inform the Local Health Authority (LHA) and the ward officer.

“It is mandatory to sign a MoU with the hospital and inform the local health officers. But in this case, they haven’t done anything. So, we didn’t even know about the vaccination drive that was conducted on May 30,” said Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner (DMC).

As alleged by the residents, the vaccinators and coordinators didn’t register them on the centralised Co-WIN portal on the day of inoculation. This also stands as a violation of the guidelines of BMC.

“The vaccination centres need to have nodal officers who are responsible for checking all the required documents. They are responsible for registering the beneficiaries on the Co-WIN portal on the day of vaccination. However, now we are being informed that these beneficiaries were registered on the portal after 7-8 days of vaccination,” he added.

BMC has allowed private hospitals to vaccinate in society premises to ease the rush at vaccination centres. But public health officers said this kind of unauthorised vaccination drives can prove fatal if a beneficiary develops any Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) after vaccination.

“We have clearly stated in the guideline that private societies will be treated as sub-vaccination sites and it should be linked to a nearby health facility for the management of AEFI,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.

Following the incident, BMC has also decided to spread awareness among citizens on rules to hold vaccination in private societies. “Societies need to be aware of the guidelines before going ahead with the vaccination drive,” said Shankarwar.

‘Vaccinators were called from another hospital’

A few residents of the society claim that on the day of vaccination, the accusers got vaccinators from a private hospital in Charkop. Later, when they visited the hospital, they saw those staffers who were present at the society as vaccinators and coordinators on May 30.

“When the two hospitals (Nanavati and Lifeline) informed us that they didn’t send vials or vaccinators to your society, we visited the Charkop hospital for inquiry and saw the staffers. But when we asked the officers at the hospital, they also refused their involvement in the drive,” said Patel.

Despite repeated calls and messages, the founder of the hospital didn’t respond.