E-Paper
State has capacity to vax 1 million a day, but not enough doses available: Tope
We are expecting to get more doses soon. However, without enough vaccine doses we cannot vaccinate more people, he said
On Friday morning, state health minister Rajesh Tope inaugurated the National Cold Chain Resource Centre (NCCRC) in Pune.
The centre will provide training to experts and officials involved in cold chain management.
The centre comes at a time when Covid-19 vaccine inoculation is being undertaken on a war footing across the country.
At the inauguration, Tope said that the centre will help reduce wastage and contamination of the vaccines, not only Covid-19, but also those used in routine immunisation.
Tope said, “We have the capacity to inoculate 1.5 million people daily and a minimum of one million at least, on a daily basis, however, we get only three- to three-and-a-half lakh doses on a daily basis. We are expecting to get more doses soon. However, without enough vaccine doses we cannot vaccinate more people.”
Tope added, “With such a centre in place, Pune has once again proved that it is steering the fight against Covid-19. The facility will help avoid health-related accidents like the Nashik oxygen leak which have to be avoided as it deals with life and death.”
The National Cold Chain Research Centre (NCCRC), was established in 1982, but functioned in Pune as division centre and was later, in 2013, declared an autonomous institute under the state government by the Maharashtra public health department. In 2016, it was declared a national centre by the state government, following additional works.
The 10-storied building is located near Naidu hospital on the Raja Bahadur mill road and has residential and research facilities. The centre will be involved in creating sessions to train cold-chain officials and experts not just from different states, but also from other Asian countries.
The centre will also provide training with regards to equipment used in paediatric units like neonatal ICUs and will also draft manuals, SOPs and other educational content.
