Mumbai civic body submits vax guidelines to high court

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday submitted to the Bombay high court (HC) the draft guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP) framed by the civic body for holding private vaccination camps at housing societies, commercial entities and educational institutions etc

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday submitted to the Bombay high court (HC) the draft guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP) framed by the civic body for holding private vaccination camps at housing societies, commercial entities and educational institutions etc.

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According to the draft guidelines, a member of the said body will be appointed as a nodal officer who will be responsible for monitoring the vaccination activities and inform the local police and health authority in case of any malpractices.

On its part, the BMC on receipt of a request for such a camp will verify the registration of private Covid vaccination centres (PCVC) on the Co-WIN portal. The BMC has also written to the registrar of cooperative housing societies and higher and technical education authorities to intimate all housing complexes and educational institutions under them the SOPs and guidelines.

The division bench of chief justice Dipanbkar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni while hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Mumbai resident Siddharth Chandrashekhar, was informed that as per the directions of the court on July 29, and previous hearings guidelines and SOPs for organising vaccination camps, had been prepared and the same would be published for the public after it was approved and signed by the concerned officer.

Chandrashekhar’s PIL had sought directions for booking vaccination slots on the Co-WIN portal, easy and accessible to the general public and the elderly. After advocate, Anita Shekhar-Castellino, who represented Chandrashekhar drew the attention of the bench to news reports of fake vaccination camps, the court had directed the police to take strict action against the perpetrators and also asked the BMC to frame mandatory guidelines to be followed by organisers of such camps.

While making submissions on behalf of the police, chief public prosecutor Deepak Thakare informed the bench that investigations had revealed that the 2,053 victims had been injected with saline water and no adverse effects were reported from those who were inoculated with the fake vaccines.

Sakhare submitted the draft guidelines which mentioned that a member of the housing society, commercial entity or educational institution would be appointed as a nodal officer and would be entrusted with the task of monitoring vaccination activities at the camp. The BMC and police would provide support to the camps as and when required but it would be the responsibility of the nodal officers to ensure that all vaccination centre protocols were followed diligently.

After hearing the submissions the court expressed satisfaction and directed the BMC to ensure that the same was made known to the general public as soon as possible and posted a hearing of the PIL for next week.