Employee ID code mandatory for HCWs to get vaccine

Move aimed to eliminate bogus candidates getting free vaccine jabs, so far 90,000 beneficiaries vaccinated

To avoid bogus candidates getting free vaccine jabs, the BMC is now seeking employee identification numbers along with government ID cards from all the healthcare workers (HCWs) who have registered for vaccination. The corporation has directed all the hospitals to make a list of registered HCWs with employee ID and submit it to the BMC with immediate effect.

The new diktat comes after a recent incident in Amravati, where a doctor from a private hospital allegedly facilitated free shots of Covid vaccine for 19 members of his family and friends, by showing them as staff attached to the hospital. The doctor is under scanner. An inquiry has been ordered.

Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner said the vaccination drive is being done phase-wise based on the beneficiaries having been divided. For now, only two categories which include healthcare and frontline workers who are eligible to be a part of mass vaccination drive, apart from them no one is allowed to take advantage. However, so far they have not reported any such incident where the HCWs or FLWs have shown bogus ID cards to the vaccines. “We are checking the identity cards of each beneficiary who is coming for the vaccination. We have directed all the private hospitals to submit a list of employees along with their employment ID number to ensure there are no bogus candidates,” he said.

Kakani further said since the vaccination drive started they used to check the government ID proof of beneficiaries before inoculating. But from now onwards they have instructed all the centres to check the employment ID code along with a government ID card of all the registered beneficiaries. “We have instructed all the staff of the 22 vaccine centres to cross-check ID proof before inoculating and if they found anything suspicious it should be reported immediately and action will be taken against them,” he added.

However, around 2 lakh HCWs and 1.80 lakhs FLWs in Mumbai have registered on the centralised Co-Win application for the vaccination drive. Moreover, so far nearly 90,000 beneficiaries have been vaccinated in the last 18 sessions of the drive.