Vaccination camps were set up in the premises of old age homes

Officials running old age homes and long-term care facilities have demanded that the government organize vaccination camps in the facilities complex for its residents and employees with necessary due diligence measures.

The reason for this is that it is risky to take residents, most of whom are senior citizens, and go to hospitals with dementia for vaccination because they are the most vulnerable to infection. The officials running these institutions have now written to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asking them to provide vaccination in the campus.

In a letter, the trustees of the Nightingale Medical Trust (NMT), a for-profit organization working for the cause of the elderly, stated that as the virus was meant to be here, it was imperative that the government vaccinate residents and employees Care in long-term care facilities, especially people with dementia.

The trust, which runs four residential care homes for senior citizens and people with dementia in Karnataka, has on behalf of all such institutions, the state Health and Family Welfare Minister K.K. Has also written to Sudhakar and BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad.

Other Countries

“Unfortunately, so far, there has been no directive by the Government of India to vaccinate residents and employees of care homes in their campuses, while in many developed countries, residents and staff are vaccinated with long-term care facilities.” Vaccination programs started, “S. Premkumar Raja, Secretary and Trustee of NMT.

“When we approached the state government, we were told that we would have to shift residents to designated hospitals or primary health centers (PHCs) to get vaccinated. Considering most residents are with dementia or other mental issues or disability, it is not possible for us to transfer them to hospitals or PHCs so that they can be vaccinated. It can expose them to the virus and they can get the infection, ”Mr. Raja said.

“As an organization running four residential long-term care facilities for the elderly with dementia and destitute elderly, we have faced many challenges so far during the epidemic. Over 80 of our residents and workers were infected in the last few months, ”he said.

Managing trustee Radha S Murthy said that unless residents and staff are vaccinated, it is increasingly difficult to manage the care facilities run safely by the NMT. “We understand your concerns for vaccinating people with some safety precautions. But at the same time, you should give some special consideration to those under the supervision of old age home. Currently, in our country, we have more than 4,000 old age / long-term care facilities with over 2,00,000 residents and 20,000 employees who are not capable of vaccination, ”he said.

worst hit

Globally, long-term care facilities / old age homes were most affected by the epidemic and are still at high risk. It is estimated that approximately one third of deaths worldwide due to COVID-19 were from such care facilities. Fortunately, for various reasons, there have not been many deaths in old-age homes or other large care facilities in India, she reported.

BBMP Commissioner Ann. Manjunath Prasad told Hindu Although this is a real problem, vaccination cannot be done in the premises of the centers without specific instructions from the center.