Thane, May 28 (PTI) Civil surgeon Dr Kailas Pawar on Friday urged the civic body in Maharashtra's Thane city to hold a COVID-19 vaccination camp for prisoners at the central jail here.

Talking to reports, he said as per the government's directions civic authorities are expected to organise vaccination programmes in jails to inoculate inmates against coronavirus.

However, due to some reasons it has not been possible to hold such a programme in Thane central jail, despite the fact that the prison has a medical centre and hospital, he said.

"We cannot leave it as it is. The Thane Civil hospital has been inoculating inmates and undertrials in batches of 20 -30 each day, and so far, around 600 prisoners have taken the jab," Dr Pawar said.

A lot of risk is involved in transporting inmates and undertrials back and forth from the jail to the hospital, he said, adding that the prison authorities need to organise a camp at the jail hospital with the help of the civil hospital.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)