No accurate data on those with comorbidity, over 50 years, says BBMP

Faced with the prospect of vaccinating nearly 2.2 million people in the city, the BBMP said it now lacks accurate data on people with comorbidities and those above the age of 50.

In a recent meeting held to discuss how to vaccinate people in the so-called priority group 3, the BBMP noted that one in 10 adults have Type 2 diabetes and one in three have hypertension.

With the city’s population numbering roughly 1.3 crore, of which roughly 40% are adults, the Palike will potentially have to contend with 52 lakh or 5.2 million people getting the jab. Of these, the Palike estimates that 1.7 million suffer from hypertension and 0.52 million suffer from diabetes, making them prime candidates for inoculation.

Although the state government and the BBMP had conducted a house-to-house survey last year to identify people with comorbidities across the state, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad described that data as being less than useful.

“The previously accumulated comorbidity survey data is not accurate and is not an easily retrievable option,” Prasad said. He added that the Palike does not have accurate information to carry out Covid-19 vaccination at this stage.

Munish Moudgil, Director, State Covid War Room, said the state-wide survey had reached 90% completion last year.

However, a senior BBMP official claimed that last year’s house-to-house survey had erred by not collecting data for certain parameters, notably cataloguing people above the age of 50.

Vikram Rai, president of the Bangalore Apartment Federation, clarified that some RWAs had received patchy instructions to help with last year’s survey and that data collection was not uniform.

Meanwhile, Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said the state will echo moves by other states and Union Territories, notably Delhi, which has not only instructed RWAs to collect data about people over the age of 50 for the vaccination drive, but has also approached industrial associations to identify people for vaccination. “We will rope in all stakeholders — RWAs, industry associations, apartment owners associations, etc,” Pandey said.

However, when this will happen is not known. Rai said RWAs in Bengaluru have received no such instructions so far.

“There has not even been a rumor that we need to survey apartment residents. With vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers, I do not think the government is ready to vaccinate the general public yet,” added Rajashekar D S, former president, Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF).

Dr Vijendra Bilaguli, Chief Health Officer, BBMP, said that recalcitrant healthcare workers had been given a second opportunity to avail inoculations in a bid to end the phase 1 of the programme soon. However, no clear timeline exists about when phase 1 will end.

BBMP responsible for urban poor registration

While people from a higher socio-economic status can self-register for vaccinations, the BBMP has the task of identifying the urban poor and other vulnerable groups.

The adult population of city slums is about 5.8 lakh, according to the Palike. Of these, approximately 1.58 lakh suffer from hypertension and 70,560 from diabetes.

The BBMP hopes to deploy about 1,000 vaccinators, each of whom will have to carry to inoculate 60 people per day.