No clarity on Covid-19 vaccine procurement, say private hospitals; seek proper guidelines

Several private hospitals across the country said they have no clarity on procuring Covid19 vaccines under the new policy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that it has led to the vaccination being put on hold at their centresThe hospitals have sought a proper mechanism and a singlewindow system to be put in place for procurement of vaccine doses They also claimed that they had approached the vaccine manufacturers Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India SII and also state governments but to no availMeanwhile in a recent communication to the Union health ministry Prakash Kumar Singh director Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII is learnt to have written ldquoAs per your direction we are not accepting any further orderspayment from any private hospital in the country We await your further direction with regard to roadmap for future supplies to private hospitalsrdquoAlso Read GST Council cuts tax rate on medical grade oxygen from 12 per cent to 5 per centElaborating the problems faced by private hospitals S C L Gupta medical director Batra Hospital said The problem is that there is no clarity on how we will be procuring the vaccines When we ask the state government officials they say wait till June 21 stating that the policy is not yet clearrdquoldquoThe central government also has asked us to wait We have approached the companies too but they are also not clear on the methodology of procurementrdquo he saidIn the whole process Gupta said vaccination of people is getting delayedWith fear of a possible third wave hitting India we want to vaccinate as many people as possible Also several people and many of our healthcare workers who have taken the first dose are waiting for their second dose he saidP K Bhardwaj Chief Executive Director and Head of Department of Surgery Saroj Hospital also said that nothing has been clearly spelt about procurement by private hospitals and how much vaccines will be given to each private hospitalThe vaccinations at most of the private hospitals are on hold and the public especially those patients who need to get the second doses are at the receiving endThe government should soon come out with transparent and clear guidelines so as to avoid any further delay in this crucial exercise of inoculating people against the deadly virus Bhardwaj who is also secretary of the Delhi Voluntary Hospital Forum saidSarvesh Saran Joshi president Rajasthan Doctors Association and also managing director of Shekhawati Hospital Jaipur said We have spoken to manufacturers of both Covishield and Covaxin and they said the government has asked them not to supply the vaccines directly to private hospitals So the majority of medium to small hospitals are suffering the mostJitendra Saraf director Sita Memorial Multispeciality Dental Clinic Raipur said when he approached the state government officials they said they are yet to receive proper guidelines on how private hospitals would be procuring the jabsWe have been writing to both Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute but there is no response from them Saraf also a member of the Indian Dental Association saidSome of the private hospitals also flagged the service charge for vaccination being capped at Rs 150 saying it may not be feasible for them to organise sessions outside their own centres at that rateAt a service charge of Rs 150 we can provide vaccination only at our centre We had started to go to RWAs and private sector companies but now organising such sessions at this rate will not be possible Capping the price at Rs 150 will also impact the entire vaccination drive So a mechanism needs to be worked for this toordquo Gupta saidOrganising outside camps requires additional resources and manpower and holding such sessions at Rs 150 is not feasible another private hospital saidUnder the revised guidelines which will come into effect from June 21 the Centre will procure 75 per cent of the Covid19 vaccines being produced by manufacturersDomestic vaccine manufacturers are given the option to also provide jabs directly to private hospitals which would be restricted to 25 per cent of their monthly productionAccording to the guidelines statesUTs will aggregate the demand of private hospitals keeping in view equitable distribution between large and small private hospitals and regional balanceBased on this aggregated demand the central government will facilitate supply of vaccines to private hospitals and their payment through the National Health Authoritys electronic platformThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever