Mumbai: BMC starts training doctors for Covid-19 vaccination

For the initial phase of Covid-19 vaccination, the BMC has estimated the need to train around 2,500 people

Hoping that the city will get the Covid-19 vaccine by the first half of next year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is starting to train doctors for the mass immunisation process. So far, 40 doctors have been trained; they will later train other doctors.

Representational photo. (REUTERS)

Even though the BMC has been immunising children for years, this will be the first time that the civic body will vaccinate adults. For the initial phase of Covid-19 vaccination, the BMC has estimated the need to train around 2,500 people. “Though the process is similar, we still need to provide training to our doctors. These 40 doctors have been trained for vaccine distribution, storage and transportation,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC.

Other than in tertiary-care hospitals, training is being conducted in peripheral and special hospitals as well. These trainers will train their team members and field-level staff at their respective centres. “We expect to complete their initial training by January 7, 2021,” she added.

Meanwhile, the civic body has identified eight hospitals as Covid-19 vaccination points — King Edward Memorial (KEM), Lokmanya Tilak General, BYL Nair, Cooper, Bandra Bhabha, VN Desai, Rajawadi and Bharat Ratna Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospitals.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health), said that the civic body has decided to develop a real-time monitoring Covid-19 mobile application to regulate the vaccination process among the 2 crore population in Mumbai. “Along with vaccination process, we also need to train our employees in handling the application which will help to centralise the system,” he said.

The civic body plans to vaccinate around one crore people within a month after the roll out of the vaccine. “To ensure better accessibility to people, we have plans to include schools and gymkhanas as the vaccination points,” said Kakani.