Mumbai’s private hospitals to be inspected ahead of starting Covid-19 vaccination drives

Hospitals send infrastructure details to civic body; BMC awaits nod to allow private units to join, says will assess them on Centre’s rules

As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gears up for the second phase of the mass immunisation programme, around 100 private hospitals have already submitted their details for permission to inoculate beneficiaries on their premises. The civic body will soon start to inspect the shortlisted hospitals.

Last week, the Association of Hospitals (AOH), a trust of private hospitals, approached the BMC seeking permission to allow them to vaccinate beneficiaries. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

Last week, the Association of Hospitals (AOH), a trust of private hospitals, approached the civic body seeking permission to allow them to vaccinate beneficiaries. Following this, the BMC sent them a form—‘Private Hospital Covid-19 vaccination preparedness checklist’ – asking them to upload data about their infrastructure. Most major private hospitals namely Bombay Hospital, Hinduja, Hiranandani, Lilavati, among others, have submitted their details.

“We have got around 100 names on the list, but many haven’t submitted all details. So, currently, we are auditing the list and scratching off the names of the hospitals who haven’t answered all queries,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC.

Following this, the BMC will inspect the shortlisted hospitals for infrastructure. “Until the hospitals fulfil the criteria enlisted by the Central government, they will not be allowed to vaccinate people in the second phase,” said Kakani.

The form has 15 questionnaires, including questions such as “Are there three designated rooms for waiting, vaccination and observation?’; ‘Well ventilated injection room available?’; ‘AEFI management faculty (ICU) available?’;’Availability of injection waste disposal bag/container at the session site’; ‘Good network availability for use of CoWIN app’; ‘Covid IEC display boards available at waiting rooms’, among others.

“We are ready to facilitate the Covid-19 vaccination process at our hospital, for which we have already submitted the requisite form. We will train our staff as per the guidelines laid down by the government,” said Dr Manish Gupta, medical director at LH Hiranandani Hospital, Powai.

After the selection process, the BMC will issue guidelines for private hospitals for the immunisation programme. “Any private hospital with the required infrastructure can apply online,” said Dr Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician at Bombay Hospital and member of AOH.

Following the instructions of the Central government, the BMC has decided to start vaccinating frontline workers from the first week of February, along with the healthcare workers (HCWs). On Monday, they will conduct its dry run and on Tuesday, the Co-WIN app will be activated to send messages to the registered FLWs. To facilitate the plan, the BMC will start vaccination centres at peripheral hospitals and other jumbo centres to attain the daily target of 10,000 vaccinations.

“The BMC needs huge infrastructure to vaccinate its population of 20,000,000. It is essential to include private hospitals. We are hopeful that we will get an approval soon,” said Dr Bhansali.

Submit details about deep freezers for vaccine: BMC to hospitals

As a preparatory measure, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked private hospitals to submit details in the preparedness form if they have deep freezers in their cold storage facility which can be used to store Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in future.

In the form, under point number 4 titled adequate cold chain availability, BMC has sought information about two types of refrigerators — deep freezers with capacity to store at -20 to -70 degrees and ice-lined refrigerators.

The mention of deep freezer in the form has raised eyebrows among doctors. When asked about it, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “At present, both Covaxin and Covishield require ice-lined refrigerators (2-8 degrees). But, we need to be ready if, in future, we are asked to provide Pfizer vaccine which requires deep freezers. So, to keep the list handy, we have asked doctors to mention it if they have such freezers.”

Pfizer’s vaccine has been developed in collaboration with Germany’s BioNTech SE. According to its official website, it is more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infection.