The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday informed the Bombay High Court that it will implement “door-to-door vaccination” for the elderly and disabled citizens once the guidelines for the same are issued by the Central government.
“If the Central government introduces door-to-door vaccination policy, we will implement it,” the BMC submitted to the HC in response to a query raised by the Bombay High Court whether it would be willing to conduct the door-to-door vaccination for Covid-19 for the elderly and disabled citizens. The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni indicated this during the hearing of a petition filed by advocate Dhruti Kapadia. In her petition, Kapadia pointed out that there are many senior citizens who are bedridden and cannot go out to a vaccination centre to get the much-needed jab.
The court rapped the BMC officials for not taking into consideration the elderly and disabled in their vaccination programme. “We are very disappointed with this stand. We are aghast to know that the BMC has succumbed to pressure,” Chief Justice Datta said. “What was the praise in the newspaper and media for… publicity? You cannot think for the elderly and bedridden. If you do not have stock, you stop vaccines for all. Why is this selective vaccination going on? Can you discriminate like that? What is the fault of those who are above 70 who are bed- ridden?” asked the court.