Authorities running old-age homes and long-term care facilities have demanded that the government organise vaccination camps on the premises of the facilities for their residents and staff with necessary precautionary measures.
This is because it is risky to take the residents, most of whom are senior citizens and those with dementia, to hospitals for vaccination as they are among those most vulnerable to infection. The authorities running these institutions have now written to Union Health Minister Harshvardhan asking him to make the vaccination available at the premises.
In a letter, trustees of Nightingale Medical Trust (NMT), a not-for-profit organisation working for the cause of elderly, have said that as the virus was here to stay, it was imperative that the government should vaccinate the residents and staff at the long-term care facilities especially those caring for people with dementia.
The trust running four residential care homes for senior citizens and those with dementia in Karnataka, has also written to State Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar and BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad in this regard on behalf of all such institutions.
Other countries
“Unfortunately, till now, no direction has been given by the Government of India to vaccinate residents and staff of care homes at their premises, while in many developed countries, vaccination programmes started with vaccinating the residents and staff of long-term care facilities,” said S. Premkumar Raja, secretary and trustee of NMT.
“When we approached the State government, we were told that we had to shift the residents to designated hospitals or Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to get them vaccinated. Considering most of the residents are with dementia or other mental issues or bedridden, it is not possible for us to shift them to hospitals or PHCs to get them vaccinated. This may expose them to the virus and they can get the infection,” Mr. Raja said.
“As an organisation running four residential long-term care facilities for elders with dementia and destitute elderly, we have been facing several challenges so far during the pandemic. Over 80 of our residents and staff were infected in the last few months,” he said.
Managing Trustee Radha S. Murthy said it was getting difficult to manage the care facilities run by NMT safely unless the residents and the staff are vaccinated immediately. “We understand your concerns to vaccinate people with some safety precautions. But at the same time, you should have some special consideration towards those under the care of old-age homes. Presently, in our country, we have over 4,000 old-age homes/long-term care facilities with over 2,00,000 residents and 20,000 staff who are not able to get vaccinated,” she added.
Worst affected
Globally, long-term care facilities/old-age homes were worst affected by the pandemic and still are at high risk. It is estimated that almost a third of deaths due to COVID-19 across the world were from such care facilities. Fortunately, due to various reasons, in India, not many deaths have been reported in old-age homes or other elder care facilities, she pointed out.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told The Hindu that although this is a genuine problem, vaccination cannot be done at on he premises of the centres without specific directions from the Centre.
