Private hospitals raced on Thursday to submit vaccination orders since the Centre only allowed them a 24-hour window (Wednesday to Thursday) to place the order and pay for it. According to the Private Institutions and Nursing Homes Association, private hospitals may only make orders for three lakh pills till Wednesday evening (PHANA)

The constant flip-flap in vaccine procurement procedures has led private hospitals to lose interest. PHANA Precident Dr.Prasanna HM said hospitals have been made to place incidens thrice so far, first with the state government, then with the Karnataka Private Medical Established portal(10 lakh doses incidents raised), and then Co-WIN portal which did not work until Monday.
“On Wednesday there were a communication from the immunization deputy director that by Thursday 2:00pm all vaccine incidents have to be raised and paid for. How many can do that within 25 hours? People have lost interest. We have requested for an extension,” he said. National Health Mission Director Dr. Arundhati Chandrasekhar did not respond to DH’s queries.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech has apparently sent feelers to city hospitals to buy vaccines directly. Three hospitals have already bought vaccine doses according to Prasanna. “I do not want to name these three hospitals. But the purchase happened after june21, and the payment happened within a day,” he said.

Mumbai: 29 private hospitals which are not enrolled for any government health scheme have been allowed by the Centre on Tuesday to join the Covid-19 vaccination drive and accelerate vaccine administration. The decision from Centre came late on Tuesday after an online meeting with BMC.

The vaccine in these hospitals will begin administration in the next couple of days, allowing the state to issue an order and mobilising of vaccine stocks and staff, said civic officials.

The president of Associations of Hospitals (AOH), Gautam Khanna said, “Most of us were already vaccinating our health staffers, so some centres will be ready before the rest. However, we may not be able to take walk-in registrations immediately.”

The move buoyed the BMC that faced heat on Monday for overcrowding at centres. The enthusiastic response from the elderly saw Mumbai’s turnout jump by over 240%— from 1,982 on Monday to 6,853 on Tuesday. Across the state, senior citizens led the charge, accounting for 12,300 of the 16,111 vaccinated—a 130% rise over the previous day.

22 civic vaccination centres are already active. Since the hospitals empanelled under the CGHS, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana were only 55 and with no infrastructure or manpower, civic authorities took the decision to enrol these major hospitals.

Dr Gautam Bhansali, who coordinates between public and private hospitals, said most private hospitals should be able to start by Thursday. “Some hospitals are yet to be inspected by BMC. All these should happen in the next few days,” he said. The hospitals were not able to vaccinate even their own staffers since Saturday since Co-WIN was updated.

Dr Santosh Shetty, CEO of Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Andheri, which is among the 29 private hospitals that have got permission to vaccinate senior citizens, said: “More the number of hospitals, more people can get vaccinated. People want to get the vaccine at a hospital they are comfortable with and closer to their home,” he added.

private hospitals

Private hospitals are scrambling to place vaccination orders with a 24-hour deadline

Center allows 29 private Hospitals in Mumbai to provide Jab