PUNE: From circulating pamphlets, installing display boards to using social media platforms, small hospitals offering Covid vaccines are using various communication modes to increase visibility and boost vaccination numbers.
Sanjay Patil, chairman of the Indian Medical Association's Hospital Board of India (HBI), Pune branch, said, “Small hospitals are registering a rise in footfalls for vaccination after using such communication tools. Some are also approaching housing societies to utilize the doses and push the numbers.”
Hospitals and association members TOI spoke to underlined that a small healthcare unit was currently vaccinating 30 to 50 citizens every day as against the previous 10 to 15 per day.
“Vaccination newly started at small private hospitals and nursing homes towards the end of July, has now started gathering pace. Besides, there were many technical issues initially which we have overcome now,” said Nivedita Oswal, director and paediatrician of Hadapsar-based Parasmani hospital, which received 1,000 doses of Covishield on July 28.
Small hospitals/nursing homes had been struggling to procure doses for almost two months. They started getting the vaccine doses from the last week of July. Despite getting the permission to inoculate beneficiaries, these hospitals had remained out of the vaccination drive for various reasons since June 1.
“The small setups are located in every corner of the PMR and their participation can not only speed up the vaccination numbers, but also make neighborhood vaccination a reality,” said physician Aniket Joshi, member of the Association of Physicians of India, Pune branch.
