VASCO
In good news for seafarers across the country and in Goa too, the Centre has decided to prioritise vaccination for this category so that the industry operations do not get hampered.
Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Chemicals & Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the status of vaccination to the seafarers.
According to a release by Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), Mandaviya suggested that operations of the seafaring industry should not get hampered due to non-vaccination and emphasized that all efforts should be made to get the seafarers vaccinated before joining their scheduled duties on board.
"Apart from several measures, the ministry has been making efforts to take State governments on board for including seafarers in their State 'priority' list, and Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa has already provided such status", it said.
"India plays a very significant role in the global seafarer industry. There have been demands from many quarters to accord 'priority' to seafarers in the vaccination drive in view of the nature of their work. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (PS&W) also coordinated actively with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to give priority to seafarers in Covid vaccination", he said.
He said, "due to the recent intervention by the ministry, major ports have started vaccination centres. Six major ports which include Mumbai Port Trust, Cochin Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Kolkata Port Trust and Tuticorin Port Trust have started vaccinating seafarers at their port hospital”. Moreover, a private hospital in Kerala has also been roped in for vaccinating seafarers. Seafaring Unions/Associations like MASSA, FOSMA and NUSI have also successfully organized special camps for vaccination.
It may be recalled that the seafarer community is seeking priority for Covid-19 vaccination and had urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to categorise them as "frontline workers".
In a letter to Sawant, two leaders of the community -- Captain Elborne D'Silva of the Maritime Union of India and Captain Venzy Viegas of AAP -- asked that seafarers be categorised as 'frontline workers' and prioritise vaccination.
It was brought to the notice of Sawant that the Union Shipping, Ports and Waterways Ministry had issued directives in early May to all major ports to commence vaccination centres for seafarers but MPT failed to follow it till date.
Since the State government had recently categorised new set of workers like those employed in the pharma sector as frontline workers for vaccination priority the same could be followed for seafarers, they said.
