Nagpur: After the initial reluctance, 19 private hospitals have agreed to host Covid-19 vaccination centres on their premises. In all, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has finalized 60 centres, including 19 private hospitals, for the purpose.
As reported by TOI on Tuesday, vaccination will kick-off from eight centres in the city on January 16. Vaccine will be administered to pre-registered health care workers at these centres on January 16 and 17.
The NMC is expecting to vaccinate all health care workers in six working days, followed by front-line workers. Thereafter, people above 50 years of age and those below 50 but having comorbidities will be covered.
Vaccination will be carried out between 9am and 5pm on four days — Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Regular immunization drives will be carried out on Tuesdays and Fridays. Sunday will be a holiday.
NMC’s additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi told TOI, “Vaccination will be done at all 60 centres from January 18 onwards. Around 25,000 health care workers, from government as well as private hospitals, will be administered the vaccine in the initial stage. Staffers at 16 private hospitals have already undergone training and those from the remaining ones will be trained on Wednesday.”
“NMC will deploy one policeman at each centre and provide the vaccines at the doorsteps. First, these private hospitals will administer vaccine to their own staffers, who have already been registered with the civic body. Then, we will link health care workers of other private hospitals to these centres,” he said.
Initially, only two private hospitals — Kingsway and Kunal — had accepted the NMC proposal to host the centre. In view of the poor response, the civic body had identified its schools and community halls for carrying out the drive.
Joshi said, “Private hospitals have experienced staff and all necessary facilities. Had the vaccination drive been operated in schools and community halls, preparations to host the vaccination centres would have been needed to start from the scratch and hence the idea was dropped.”
Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) will have four vaccination centres and it will be the only one to host multiple centres. Other government hospitals — IGGMCH, AIIMS, Ayurvedic Hospital, Ajni Railway Hospital, Government Ayurvedic College, Daga Maternity Hospital and ESIC Hospital — will have one centre each.
The NMC has identified its 26 hospitals, urban primary health centres (UPHCs) and dispensaries for carrying out the drive.
As reported by TOI on January 4, regular patients visiting UPHCs and dispensaries are likely to be affected during the vaccination days. People, especially from slums, depend on UPHCs and dispensaries for their medical needs. The NMC is yet to plan alternate arrangements at UPHCs and dispensaries for such patients. As per government guidelines for the vaccination, none other than beneficiaries will be allowed at the centres.