Navi Mumbai civic body starts vaccination drive for homeless persons

Photo used for representational purpose

In a bid to ensure no one is left out of the Covid-19 vaccination drive, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has started inoculating homeless persons and beggars in the township, a civic official said on Thursday.

As part of the initiative, 14 such people from Belapur division were administered the vaccine doses on Wednesday, the civic spokesperson said. He claimed the NMMC was possibly the first civic body in Maharashtra to undertake the vaccination drive for the homeless persons and beggars.

The special drive will cover all areas of the NMMC in the next 10 days, he said.

The official also said the Covid-19 vaccinations in the NMMC limits have crossed the five lakh-mark.

"We will ensure no one is left out of the vaccination campaign. Hence, a drive has been undertaken to cover the homeless persons and beggars," NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Bhangar said.

A team of health officials will visit different places and vaccinate the homeless persons. Since such people do not have identity proof, their biometric details will be collected, the civic spokesperson said.

"We are vaccinating such beneficiaries after collecting their fingerprints and registering their names on the government portal," the official said, adding that a special software has been developed to record the fingerprint data.

He also said that assistance of NGOs will be taken to identify the homeless people. Transgender persons will also be vaccinated, the official said.

The neighbouring Thane Municipal Corporation last week conducted a special drive for administering anti-Covid-19 jabs to transgender people in the city.

Meanwhile, another official said medical facilities at the civic-run Rukminibai Hospital in Kalyan town of Thane district will be upgraded soon.

The hospital, which caters to a large number of patients, will soon get the CT scan and MRI test facilities, he said.

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