E-Paper
IT ministry sends Covid care vans to Patna, Nalanda
PATNA The ministry of electronics and information and technology has dispatched Covid Care vans to rural areas of Patna and Nalanda districts to facilitate doorstep registration for vaccination against coronavirus of the 18-44 years age group
PATNA
The ministry of electronics and information and technology has dispatched Covid Care vans to rural areas of Patna and Nalanda districts to facilitate doorstep registration for vaccination against coronavirus of the 18-44 years age group.
The pilot project, executed through Common Service Centre (CSC) e-governance under the Digital India, aims to provide internet access and facilitate the 18-44 years target age group pre-register for vaccination in the two districts.
The two districts have a population of roughly 49.27 lakh, of which Nalanda accounts for 28.77 lakh and Patna 20.5 lakh (source: Census 2011).
The health ministry has made it mandatory for those in 18-44 years age group to pre-register for Covid-19 vaccination. Unlike those 45 years and above, walk-in and on-spot registration for vaccination is not allowed for the younger age group.
“Bihar has vaccinated 85,50,682 beneficiaries so far,” said Pratyaya Amrit, Bihar’s additional chief secretary, health, at a press conference on Thursday. It has a target population of 7.51 crore to vaccinate, of which 5.39 crore are in the 18-44 age years group and 2.12 crore in the 45 years and above age group.
“We have sent out one van in each of the districts of Patna and Nalanda to reach out to the rural people in the 18-44 years age group and facilitate them pre-register for Covid-19 vaccination. Our vans are equipped with large TV LED screen, laptops and generator set,” said Santosh Kumar Tiwari, state head CSC, Bihar.
The CSC has also offered to help the Bihar government distribute Covid-19 kits, containing basic medication and thermometer, to patients under home isolation and also test suspects using rapid antigen kits.
The state health department, however, has not responded to this initiative of the CSC so far, said sources.
Should the state health department agree, it has to provide to the CSC Covid-19 medication kits for patients and rapid antigen kits for on-spot testing of Covid suspects. This will, in turn, help the health department increase its daily testing and reach out with Covid medication kits to a larger rural population, where the second wave of the pandemic has now extended to.
Of late, more new Covid-19 cases are being reported from rural than urban areas in Bihar.
The Covid vans would also offer Aadhaar-enabled banking services and allow an individual withdraw up to a maximum of ₹20,000 per day, said Tiwari.
There are 40,000 CSCs also referred to as village level entrepreneurs in Bihar. These are physical facilities for delivering Centre’s e-services like booking railway tickets, applying for PAN card, Aadhaar, etc. to rural and remote locations.
Headline: Vaccination in Bihar
Intro: The state has vaccinated 11.31% of its population against Covid-19 since the inoculation began on Jan 16
Target population: 7.51 crore
18-44 age group: 5.39 crore
45-plus: 2.12 crore
Vaccinated so far: 85,50,682
