'Door-to-door vaccination of elderly could have saved many lives': Bombay HC tells Centre

Responding to a plea seeking door-to-door vaccination for senior ctizens, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday asserted that if the Centre had started a door-to-door vaccination programme a few months back, then the lives of many of them could have been saved. The bench that comprised Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni further went on to ask the Centre why it was not pro-actively starting the vaccination programme when the lives of senior citizens, who are unable to go to vaccination centres to get inoculated, are concerned.

Minutes of hearing of PIL seeking door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens 

While hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by two lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari seeking door-to-door vaccination facility for senior citizens above the age of 75, specially-abled persons and those who are bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound, the court reiterated its April 22 order, in which it asked the Central government to reconsider its decision to not initiate a door-to-door vaccination programme. "It has been three weeks and the government (Union) is yet to inform us of its decision. The government should have taken a decision one way or the other," the court said.

Pointing out that door-to-door vaccination of senior citizens has already started in foreign countries, the court held that India starts most of the things late, and went on to ask the Central government," Why not start this (door-to-door vaccination) pro-actively when the lives of senior citizens are concerned? The bench added, "Speaking off the cuff, if we had a door-to-door vaccination programme sometime back, then so many of our senior citizens, including prominent members of society from various walks of life, who have lost their lives to COVID-19, could have been saved." 

The bench further went on to state, that the pictures of senior citizens waiting outside the vaccination centre were heart-wrenching. Elaborating on the same, it added, "They must be already suffering from so many ailments and now they face the risk of being infected with COVID-19 also (while) waiting in such crowds.''

HC takes cognizance of meeting of judges with BMC

During the hearing, the High Court also took cognizance of BMC's meeting with the judges of the court, in which Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Chahal said that the civic body was planning to start ward-wise vaccination camps from next week, which would have the capacity to inoculate 70,000 people per day. "If such camps are starting, then maybe senior citizens and people who cannot step out of their homes can be identified and the staff can go to their homes and vaccinate them," the bench said. 

The bench directed the BMC to file an affidavit stating details of the same and by when it would begin and what steps the corporation plans to take for the next few days with regard to the vaccination programme.

(Credit-PTI)