KOLKATA: Private hospitals and healthcare units that had paid for vaccines they had ordered through bank loans in June are now facing a financial challenge as the orders have got cancelled after a switch in the procurement process. Several crores that these city private hospitals had paid to the National Health Authority (NHA) through their portal are yet to be refunded, landing them in a cash crunch.
Even as they have been told that the amount will be refunded, there is no clarity when the amount could be reverted. Meanwhile, all of them have been forced to go for another round of loan to pay upfront for the fresh orders through Co-Win Portal.
“We had taken a cash credit of Rs 6.5 crore from a bank to pay for 1 lakh doses we had ordered in June. The order got cancelled after the payment. We do not know when the refund will be made. Meanwhile, we have run out of stock and can resume the drive only after getting a fresh supply,” said Suraksha Diagnostics MD Somnath Chatterjee.
The diagnostic chain that has administered about 1 lakh doses has now placed a fresh order of 1 lakh doses, made the payment and is waiting for its stock. It stopped its inoculation drive from Wednesday.
Many private health facilities had started placing their orders from mid-June via the state government that was then acting as an aggregator. They made the payment through NHA once their orders were approved. But the central government shifted the procurement system to the Co-Win platform, leading to cancellation of all June orders.
“As per the June 21 vaccination policy, Woodlands was allotted 30,000 doses of Covishield for the balance period of June. We were told that stocks will be delivered within one week of making payment. However, we have neither received the stock nor a refund till date. Our cash flow has been affected,” said Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital MD Rupali Basu.
While the hospital’s refund of about Rs 1.9 crore is stuck, Peerless Hospital’s Rs 3 crore refund, which it had paid in mid-June for 35,000 Covishield doses and 7000 Covaxin doses, is pending. “Since the procurement system changed, our order got cancelled. We have placed a fresh order about a week ago for which we have made a payment and we expect to get the supply in another 10 days,” said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra. Fortis Hospital had paid Rs 3 crore plus in the third week of June for 50,000 doses. While the hospital was told that the refund would be made in early-July, no amount has been refunded yet. “Our payment is stuck after since the order got cancelled,” said AMRI Hospital group CEO Rupak Barua.
“The procurement system got changed when we started expecting our June order requiring us to apply afresh in July. We are told that state government is pursuing the refund with the Centre,” said Narayana Health regional director (East) R Venkatesh.
“We paid around Rs 40 lakh through NHA on June 25 and the order got cancelled 10 days later. For a smaller unit like ours, the amount through bank loan is quite huge,” said Charnock Hospital CEO Ipsita Kundu.
