PIL in Bombay high court seeks dedicated vaccine anointment booking portal for Mumbai

By LE Desk

Mumbai, May 17: The Bombay High Court has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the court’s intervention in the issues concerning the booking of vaccination slots on the CoWin vaccination portal.

Yogeeta R Vanzara, a schoolteacher in Mumbai, filed the plea seeking a dedicated portal and booking mechanism for Mumbai.

“Various centres show availability of seats at midnight or thereafter and yet booked within seconds of the same being offered to the public,” the petition stated, as reported by India Today.

Vanzara also mentioned in the petition that the CoWin portal seems to suggest vaccine availability at various hospitals for which citizens are given appointments. However, on reaching the hospital the citizens are informed that vaccine is not available.

According to the petitioner, the vaccines are administered haphazardly, and the portal removes appointment schedules from its records and does not even allow citizens to reschedule their appointments.

The petition also emphasises that for various economically backward section of society who do not have easy access to the internet, obtaining vaccination appointments is extremely difficult and time-consuming.

Vanzara also said that CoWin website has no facility to assist the disabled and does not indicate which centres are friendly for the wheelchair bound.

“As a result of which extremely old patients or persons with physical handicap find it extremely difficult to choose a centre for vaccination” read the petition.

The technical glitch on the portal makes it inconvenient while booking a slot for vaccination, the petitioner alleged.

The Bombay High Court is likely to hear the PIL in due course.

https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/mumbai/story/pil-in-bombay-high-court-seeks-dedicated-vaccine-anointment-booking-portal-for-mumbai-1803322-2021-05-17