A state health worker was arrested today for allegedly running a clandestine Covid19 vaccination camp where he charged people money for the jabs. Two vials of what is said to be Covishield vaccine have been seized from him, claimed police.
The incident happened at Sonarpur, South 24-Parganas. The man arrested for conducting the vaccination camp is identified as Mithun Mandol, who according to police is a pharmacist engaged with a government-run primary health centre at Panchagram, Diamond Harbour. Simultaneously, he is the “vaccine coordinator” at the primary health centre at Mashat, Diamond Harbour.
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Police sources said the Mithun was arrested from the clandestine vaccination camp allegedly being run by him at Rupnagar, Sonarpur. The charges against the alleged health worker were that he was charging people money for vaccinating them. Vaccination against Covid19 is supposed to be done for free at government-operated vaccination centres, while paid vaccination is allowed at specific approved private hospitals.
According to Diamond Harbour police, after information reached them that a “fake” vaccination camp was being organised at Rupnagar, a raid was conducted and the health worker was picked up from there. The allegations against him are that he had administered jabs to 30-40 people after
charging them money.
A senior officer claimed following interrogation it became apparent that by virtue of his being a pharmacist of the government-run health centre as well as vaccine coordinator, he could have arranged the alleged Covishield and administered those for payment. The state health department had been apprised of the development and the vials had been sent for testing, said a
senior officer.
“We are also checking if there’s any racket involved in the exercise or whether any other government staff are involved,” said a senior officer. This incident happened despite the state health department has come up with a slew of measures to prevent people from getting deceived by fake vaccination camps after the Kasba incident where a man posing as an IAS officer, Debanjan Deb, had operated a fake vaccination camp.