To step up the pace of vaccination that has been hit largely due to the short supply of vaccines, the State government has asked private hospitals to raise indents for vaccines under the 25% quota for the private sector latest by Friday.
Under this quota, 15 lakh doses are available for private hospitals in the State this month. The State government wants to ensure that private hospitals, who had been trying to procure vaccines so far, raise the indent and procure the vaccines, Health Commissioner K.V. Trilok Chandra told The Hindu on Thursday.
“We had first asked the private hospitals to indent by Thursday. But after a meeting held to review the progress of vaccination in private hospitals on Thursday, we have asked them to raise the indent on the CoWIN portal latest by Friday,” he said. He said overall the State had got around 30 lakh doses this month, including seven lakh doses on Thursday.
The short notice has not gone down well with private hospitals. H.M. Prasanna, president of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) said it was practically not possible to suddenly arrange for funds and raise indents. “After we brought this to the notice of the NHM State Mission Director Arundhathi Chandrashekar and other officials, they have said we can indent by Friday,” he said.
“In spite of all efforts we may not be able to even indent five lakh doses by tomorrow. They cannot give us an ultimatum like this,” he said.
PHANA Secretary Rajashekar Y.L. said, “The minimum number of doses that a hospital can indent is 500 for Covishield and 160 for Covaxin. Many hospitals are wary of investing all of a sudden as the demand for vaccines in private hospitals has come down after the government announced free vaccination. Moreover, the profit margin is also very marginal,” he said. They have requested the government to reduce the limit to 200 for Covishield and 80 for Covaxin.
