Centre’s guidelines hit vax drive at private facilities in Chandigarh
Though some private hospital chains in neighbouring Mohali district have procured vaccines, the small-scale facilities have not been able to buy it from the manufacturers
At the time when every resource could have been utilised to vaccinate more people, due to new central government’s guidelines, private facilities in the city have not been able to contribute to the process which can also be a factor for declined daily inoculation numbers.
According to the arrangement till April 30, the UT administration supplied the vaccines to the private facilities which in turn paid the price of the same to the central government. However, according to the new arrangement, the private facilities have to procure their own stock from the manufacturers. The UT health department took back the remaining stocks from the private facilities on April 30 and May 1.
In the last eight days of April, the number of inoculations had crossed the 5,500-mark daily and even reached the highest on April 30 when 6,200 jabs were given. But, in the beginning of May, the number has not crossed even the 5,000-mark with the daily inoculation numbers hovering between 4,200 to 4,800.
Though some private hospital chains in Mohali have procured vaccines, the small-scale facilities have not been able to buy it from the manufacturers. In the process, the number of vaccination centres has also reduced to 50 from around 65.
“This has resulted in confusion among the beneficiaries. We are not able to administer doses to even those who had booked the spot in our hospitals. There should be some consistency in the policy,” Dr RS Bedi, former vice-president of Indian Medical Association, said.
Dr Neeraj Sharma, who ran a vaccination centre at his private hospital, said they tried to purchase the vaccine from the manufacturer, but they have failed to secure the batch so far. “We have been told to wait for three to six months,” he said.
UT’s immunisation officer Dr Manjeet Singh said that people should come to government facilities, which are properly managed by the authorities.
“We are following the government of India’s guidelines and if the eligible beneficiaries are concerned about the second dose, they should report to any government facility,” he added.
UT health secretary Arun Gupta said it does not have a huge impact on the outcome.
“There is no large-scale disruption to the drive and even government facilities have all the facilities which are required for this process,” he said.
In a drive that started on January 16, 2,22,860 doses have been administered in the health facilities of the city so far.
The UT, unlike Mohali and Panchkula, has not been able to start vaccination for the younger age group of 18+ category as it is awaiting vaccines for this group.