'Health dept's nod must for holding vaccination camps'

KOLKATA: Firhad Hakim, Chairman, Board of Administrators, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said the nod from the state Health department is mandatory for holding any Covid vaccination camps in the city. He further reiterated that presently there would be no containment zones in the city considering the fact that there was not a single area in any ward in Kolkata where at least five people had been affected with the Covid virus.

KMC has already started developing infrastructure for children with a section of experts predicting that more children may be affected if COVID-19 third wave hits the country.

A 60-bedded safe home for children has already been readied at Harekrishna Seth Lane at Paikpara in North Kolkata. A portion of Uttirna in Alipore is also being earmarked for children. Uttirna also has facilities of oxygen parlour.

"Camps can be organised only after a designated code has been availed from the state Health department," Hakim told reporters on Monday. KMC has 200 centres in the city for providing the jab, the highest in the state. There are 141 urban primary health centres of KMC and 49 mega centres. "There will be separate time slots for inoculation of

the local residents and outsiders in the health centres and mega centres under the KMC," said Hakim.

KMC has already given the jab to about two lakh people in the city.

The civic body has developed the infrastructure to vaccinate one lakh people daily.

"However, the supply of vaccines from the Centre is still inadequate," he said. The number of beneficiaries, who received the jab on Monday, is 61839.