Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started home vaccination for ailing and bedridden persons who are physically unable to go to a Covid jab centre.
Families of the bedridden persons have to ensure the presence of a doctor at their home for at least 30 minutes after the vaccine is administered in case of any adverse reaction following the vaccination.
The families of such people must also obtain a doctor’s certificate stating the ailments and that the person will not be able to go to a vaccination centre.
An application attaching the doctor’s certificate and a photocopy of the person’s Aadhaar card or any other ID proof have to be submitted to the medical officer of the ward nearest to the person’s home or the borough executive health officer of the KMC.
KMC has already vaccinated close to 70 ailing and bedridden people, said an official. In Kolkata, the KMC has been tasked with vaccinating bedridden people.
“The families of people who want to be vaccinated at home must ensure that a doctor is present for 30 minutes after vaccination, the mandatory observation period to see if there is any adverse reaction,” said a senior official of the KMC’s health department.
“We want the families to arrange a doctor who will be present for these 30 minutes after vaccination as it will not be possible for us to send a doctor. The medical officer of the ward has to treat patients at the clinics and do all administrative work of the ward,” the official said.
Medical officers have to be present at the clinic also in case of any adverse effect in people who get vaccinated at the clinics.
Several families in the city have elderly members who cannot go to a vaccination centre. Though they do not step out of their home, others in the family who go out regularly come in contact with the bedridden person. “There is every possibility of such people contracting Covid-19. So, it is necessary to vaccinate them, too,” said a doctor.
KMC officials said that they were requesting the families of the bedridden persons to fix a time between 3pm and 4pm as the vaccinators can go to people’s homes after completing a bulk of the day’s vaccination at the clinics. Vaccination at the clinics continues till 4pm.
The timing will also help reduce vaccine wastage as the vaccinators can take a vial with only one or two doses left in it.
“If the vaccinator has to go in the morning then the vial is likely to have more doses in it. Since we won’t be able to maintain the cold storage while taking the vial to the person’s home and again return to the clinic, the remaining doses will go to waste. But if we have only one or two doses left then either there will be no wastage or negligible wastage as one dose will be administered to the person,” said the official.
KMC officials made it clear that only the bedridden person will be given the vaccine dose.
Firhad Hakim, the outgoing mayor of Kolkata, had announced in August that the KMC would vaccinate bedridden people by going to their homes. But the process did not begin until recently.
The Union health ministry had in September issued guidelines on vaccinating bedridden persons at home.