The New Town authorities have started vaccination of bed-ridden senior citizens at home. The facility is also being offered to challenged or injured individuals or those suffering from serious medical conditions. So far, 11 residents have availed of the facility.
“A meeting was held on Tuesday where it was decided that no one in the NKDA area will be left unvaccinated. We are circulating an email address (covid19@nkda.in) to which residents can write, seeking vaccination at home. We have also started a door-to-door survey for dengue to check for fever and accumulated water. The health workers doing the survey have been instructed to also report such requirements, even if it is from the block association or the building gate-keeper,” said NKDA chairman Debashis Sen.
The initiative had started on October 9 with one patient but response was poor as the government circular required the vaccine recipient to arrange for a doctor at home for the post-vaccination supervision period. Now that the initiative has been formally rolled out, NKDA is having its own medical team observe the patient in case the recipient is unable to arrange for a doctor. “The rush is not so much, so we are able to manage,” Sen said.
Though the number of Covid cases in New Town could not be ascertained, the authorities are stepping up the vaccination drive. “We have a target of 250 per day at each of the two vaccination centres we run,” Sen said. Rapid Antigen Tests are still being done for free by NKDA but the demand currently is poor.
Though there are no cases of dengue yet in the NKDA area, the authorities are taking precautionary measures. “In case of a shower, an aerial survey will be done using drones to check for water accumulation in under-construction houses and Metro Rail sites,” an official said.
Not yet in Salt Lake.
There are no plans to start vaccination at home in the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation area yet, said a civic health official. “We may have vaccinated 20-25 cases at home on personal request but there has been no formal decision taken in this regard. We are stressing on completing the first dose for all eligible residents,” he said.