BMC Mumbai joins hands with private hospitals to provide free booster dose for all aged 18-59

Mumbai: Residents of the city will now be able to receive a free booster dose in the age group of 18 to 59 years old. The vaccine will be provided at a Covid Vaccination Centre (CVC) in Dharavi which is the first centre in Mumbai to be run by BMC. 

Private hospitals usually take around Rs 386 for a booster dose above the age of 18 years but with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, people can now get free vaccines without worrying about the cost.

India is the primary nation on the planet to make Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) compulsory, after an amendment to The Companies Act, 2013 in April 2014. As per the arrangements related to CSR, the Businesses can invest a segment of their benefits in areas, as for example, education, poverty, gender equality, and hunger to satisfy the CSR commitments as per law.

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Dharavi's Shashtrinagar-2 CVC is providing free vaccines through this initiative started by Jaslok Hospital.

Private hospitals have now been requested by BMC authorities to collaborate with the CSR initiative that will help people struggling with financial difficulties get the booster dose at no cost. BMC officials said that they are looking forward with an expectation that more hospitals will collaborate soon.

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Additional Commissioner, BMC, Suresh Kakani told mid-day, "We are getting a good response in the Dharavi centre. We are hopeful that there will be more footfalls in the coming days. Other hospitals such as Bombay Hospital, Surana Hospital too have shown interest in participating in the initiative."

"While Jaslok Hospital specifically wanted to start the initiative in Dharavi, other hospitals wants to start their initiative in centres which have huge beneficiary footfalls. They are also ready to set up camps if need be. We are in talks and it is in the planning stage."

Private hospitals are instead working with CSR initiatives to provide free booster doses to the needy since there were many vaccines 'near expiry' that would be wasted. As a result, they are giving the booster dose at the government CVC where eligible candidates will be able to get vaccinated.

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