Now, pvt hospitals can buy jabs only via CoWIN

“Yes, they will need to procure through Co-WIN; it is being made a simple and transparent process,” said a senior Union health ministry official aware of the matter who asked not to be named.

Private hospitals will no longer be able to directly procure Covid vaccine supplies from manufacturers, and will have to place their orders through the government’s CoWIN platform which is the backbone of national Covid-19 immunisation delivery management system, people familiar with the matter said .

Private hospitals said the move will allow the government to keep tab on how many doses are being procured by each private hospital across the country. (Bloomberg)

“Yes, they will need to procure through Co-WIN; it is being made a simple and transparent process,” said a senior Union health ministry official aware of the matter who asked not to be named.

The new procurement process will be operational from July 1. The move comes even as questions are being raised about the reach of private hospitals when it comes to vaccinations, and their ability to use the entire 25% of vaccine production allocated to them. By some estimates private vaccination centres account for only 4 % of the total vaccination centres in the country. And according to an affidavit submitted by the government in the Supreme Court on June 26, between January and May,2021, private hospitals administered 1,56,30,130 doses of both vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin.

Once the private centres place an order on CoWIN, the approval will be granted on the platform itself, and the payment for vaccine doses will have to be made electronically through the National Health Authority Portal (NHA).

The union government is procuring 75% of vaccines produced in a given month to be distributed under its free supply scheme, and the remaining 25% is left to be bought by private hospitals .

Private hospitals said the move will allow the government to keep tab on how many doses are being procured by each private hospital across the country.

“We consider this a positive policy decision taken by the government as this will lead to increase in the vaccination rate as the government will have a clear idea of how many vaccines have been procured by an individual hospital. This will also prevent hoarding of vaccines and ultimately lead to improved transparency in terms of inoculation,” said Dr Prashant Kulshrestha, deputy medical superintendent, PSRI Hospital.

The Union government recently advised states to aggregate Covid-19 vaccine distribution in private hospitals on a monthly basis, and either to do the procurement themselves or allow the central government to facilitate procurements, so as to equitably distribute vaccine doses among private hospitals.

The step was taken after it emerged that large chains were buying most of the vaccines.

Private hospitals have also launched “ door step vaccination, drive throughs, vaccination in malls, offices, residences,” pointed out Dr Kousar Shah, COO, Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital., and they should be allowed to continue doing this, “in the larger public interest.”