Mumbai: Private hospitals all set for phase 3 of Covid vaccination

Overall, on Wednesday, 11,019 senior citizens above the age of 60 and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities were vaccinated at 22 vaccination centres and three private hospitals, almost double the 6,863 vaccinated on Tuesday.

Most of the 29 private hospitals given the go-ahead by the Central government on Tuesday to conduct Coid-19 vaccinations will start doing so from Thursday, officials said. Also, on the third day of the vaccination drive’s third phase on Wednesday, no chaos was reported at any of the centres. The authorities attributed this to the smooth functioning of the centralised CoWIN portal.

(BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT)

Overall, on Wednesday, 11,019 senior citizens above the age of 60 and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities were vaccinated at 22 vaccination centres and three private hospitals, almost double the 6,863 vaccinated on Tuesday.

Further, on Wednesday, several citizens took to social media, a contrast from the previous day, expressing their satisfaction over the arrangements. Prashant Prasad, a resident, tweeted, “On Tuesday, there were phenomenal arrangements at the BKC jumbo centre. It was extremely impressive as my parents were in at 8.30am and out at 10am. Crowd management is impeccable.”

Earlier, on the first and second days, crowding was reported at several vaccination centres, including at BKC and the NESCO centre in Goregaon. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had maintained that it is following up with the Centre on fixing glitches on the portal.

On Wednesday, on-the-spot and pre-registered vaccinations were conducted smoothly owing to the portal running smoothly. Dr Pradeep Jadhav, medical superintendent, Bandra Bhabha Hospital, said, “We carried out vaccination as per the stipulated timings, between 9am and 5pm. The vaccination was smoother on Wednesday compared to the earlier two days as there was no technical glitches.”

Meanwhile, the 29 private hospitals include many major ones —Hinduja, Lilavati, Jaslok, Kokilaben, Bombay, SL Raheja, Global, Nanavati, Saifee and Fortis.

A BMC official said, “Inspections of several private hospitals started on Wednesday and many hospitals were given clearances post inspection. The pending hospitals will also be given clearances in a day or two.”