With private hospitals expressing practical problems in raising indents at short notice, the Friday deadline set by the Centre to indent vaccines under the 25% quota for private sector has been extended till July 21, claimed H.M. Prasanna, president of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA).
Although 15 lakh doses of vaccines are available under the 25% quota for private hospitals in Karnataka this month, indents for 6.48 lakh doses had been raised till 7 p.m. on Friday night.
However, Arundathi Chandrashekar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission, said the next available slot for indenting will be for the next month’s quota. “We have no information as of now about another slot this month. With 6.48 lakh indents raised till 7 p.m. on Friday, the indenting portal on CoWIN is still open. But, we are not sure if hospitals will be allowed to indent by July 21 for this month,” she told The Hindu.
Asked if indenting by private hospitals will be allowed only once a month henceforth, she said there was no information on this from the Centre. “We assume that it will be once a month or once in a fortnight. There is no clarity yet,” she said.
Health Commissioner K.V. Trilok Chandra said although the indenting portal is still open, private hospitals should indent “at the earliest” to ensure that the entire lot of 15 lakh doses available for this month is lifted. “We are in mid-July and it will take few more days for vaccines to be dispatched. Any further delay in indenting will result in the hospitals losing out on procuring the entire lot,” he said.
Some private doctors said they have been able to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers as and when required. “The indenting exercise is a farce and only indicates that the Centre is not able to ensure equitable distribution to all States. The shortage is also artificial as we have been able to get vaccines by making direct payment to the manufacturers as and when required,” said a doctor who runs a hospital in Rajajinagar.
