PUNE In a bid to have vaccines available for the susceptible population, the rural administration has appealed to private hospitals in the city, as well as PCMC to exchange their existing vaccine stock for fresh stocks in September.
As of now, the rural administration is facing a shortage of vaccines at government centres as supply has dwindled in August as compared to July. Private hospitals across the district, most of which are located in Pune city, have about 0.46 million Covid vaccine doses.
The rural administration is now approaching private hospitals, as rural areas are reporting a much higher number of new Covid-19 cases than the city. The RTPCR positivity rate for Pune rural is 6.5 per cent as of Monday.
Ayush Prasad, chief executive officer (CEO), Zilla Parishad, said, “We are approaching private hospitals, most of which are located in the city to exchange their current vaccine stock with us, for a fresh stock which we plan to have by September, when the stock arrives. As of now Pune rural has more susceptible people and so we would like to vaccinate as many beneficiaries as possible. As of now the RTPCR positivity of Pune rural is 6.5, which is much higher than the state average. We have about 0.207 million people eligible for their second dose, and as per our estimates private hospitals in the district have a stock of 0.46 million doses. Even if we get half the number of those doses then we could complete the second doses of eligible beneficiaries and increase the number of fully vaccinated people in our villages and councils. The vaccines would be distributed as per the population irrespective of the current status of Covid-19 active cases.”
A senior immunisation officer speaking anonymously, said, “As of now our demand is much more than the supply and since it is controlled by the central government there is little we can do about it. However, discussions are underway to reduce the quota of private hospitals from the existing 25% to 15%. The final call will be taken by the central government. However, if private hospitals do give us their stock we would be able to expedite the vaccination process much faster.”
{{/usCountry}}A senior immunisation officer speaking anonymously, said, “As of now our demand is much more than the supply and since it is controlled by the central government there is little we can do about it. However, discussions are underway to reduce the quota of private hospitals from the existing 25% to 15%. The final call will be taken by the central government. However, if private hospitals do give us their stock we would be able to expedite the vaccination process much faster.”
{{/usCountry}}Prasad also added that private hospitals would benefit as they would get fresh stock from September and avoid the risk of vaccine wastage due to expiry.
However, private hospitals do not seem to be excited about the same. Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, medical director of Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital said, “As of now we have only 20,000 vaccines available with us and we get around 500-100 beneficiaries daily. So we are not thinking of returning the stock, in fact we are expecting to get a higher demand for a second dose after August 15.”