Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said if the Union government had started door-to- door vaccination programme for senior citizens a few months back, then lives of many of them, including prominent persons, could have been saved.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni asked the Union government why not pro-actively start this programme when the lives of senior citizens, who are unable to go to vaccination centres to get inoculated, are concerned.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed by two lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari seeking door-to-door vaccination facility for senior citizens above the age of 75, specially-abled persons and those who are bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound.
The court reiterated its earlier order of April 22 in which it asked the Union government to relook at its decision to not initiate a door-to-door vaccination programme.
"It has been three weeks and the government (Union) is yet to inform us of its decision. The government should have taken a decision one way or the other," the court said.
It directed the Union government to file an affidavit by May 19, when it would hear the matter further. The court noted that many foreign countries have already started door-to-door vaccination facilities.