E-Paper
Pvt hosps in districts other than Pune offer no vax for 18-45-year age group due to stock shortage
PUNE Of the five districts in Pune division, only one, Pune, has multiple private hospitals undertaking the vaccination drive against Covid-19
PUNE Of the five districts in Pune division, only one, Pune, has multiple private hospitals undertaking the vaccination drive against Covid-19.
The other four districts, Solapur, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli, have only one, or no private hospitals offering vaccinations.
Since the vaccination drive for the age group 18-45 years began, the state government has stopped supplying vaccines to private hospitals and has instead empowered them to get vaccine stock directly from manufacturers.
However, while major districts like Pune, Mumbai and Thane have seen almost all big hospitals begin the Covid-19 vaccination drive, smaller districts are still awaiting their quota.
On Saturday, Pune district saw 30,000 vaccinations, of which, 22,000 got the jab at private hospitals. However, in the neighbouring district of Kolhapur, only one private hospital has been able to start the vaccination drive.
Dr Farukh Desai, district immunisation officer at Kolhapur said, “Although we have been granted permission to start Covid-19 vaccinations at 70 private hospitals, only one private hospital, Aster Aadhar hospital, within the corporation area has started the drive. It has a capacity to vaccinate 250 people daily.”
Similarly, in Satara too, only one private hospital has begun the drive. Uday Shelar, officer from the district immunisation department said, “Only one private hospital, Sahyadri hospital, has begun the vaccination drive in the entire district. Although we have permitted 48 hospitals to begin, due to no stock available hospitals have not started the drive.”
While Kolhapur and Satara have at least one private hospital where the drive has begun, the districts of Solapur and Sangli do not have any private hospital offering vaccinations for the 18-45-year age group.
District health officer Shital Jadhav said, “We have permitted 63 private vaccination centres, including two within the corporation areas. Of these, 47 are private hospitals while others are the workplace tie-ups between hospitals and industries. However, as there is no vaccine available to these hospitals, they have not been able to start the drive. Many have already placed orders, but are yet to get any stock.”
In Sangli the situation is the same as none of the private hospitals have begun vaccinations. Dr Vivek Patil, district immunisation officer said, “We have granted permission to four hospitals and we have more hospitals in the queue, whose permissions are under process. However, as there is no vaccine available, they have not yet begun the drive. Of the four, two have MoU’s with major industries and two would probably open for the general public with slot booking.”
BJP MLA Ram Satpute from Solapur alleged that there has been discrimination by the MVA government with regards to smaller districts. He said, “Only metropolitan cities like Pune, Mumbai and Thane are getting stock while in smaller districts and in rural areas the younger population is not getting any vaccines. This is the working population which needs to be vaccinated. At least in rural areas the government can provide free vaccination for the younger age group.”
As of Saturday, the cumulative vaccination in these districts is much lower than that of Pune (31,05,186). In Kolhapur it is 12,05,469, in Solapur it is 5,89,174). In Sangli it is 7,48,794 and in Satara it is 7,82,662.
