Private hospitals wait for govt info on vaccination

BENGALURU: With the Covid-19 vaccines set to roll out on January 16, many private hospitals are still waiting for confirmation from the State government as to when they would get the vaccines and can start administering them. Hospitals have made the logistical arrangements and trained their staff for the vaccination programme.

According to Dr Prasanna HM, president, Private Hospital and Nursing Association (PHANA), private hospitals which have 100-plus beds will be vaccination sites, but will administer the vaccines to their own staff during the first phase.

“Private hospitals will only vaccinate their own health staff who have registered. Following that, we will start vaccinating other healthcare workers referred by the government, and then the elderly population. All these hospitals have storage facility for vaccines. However, we are yet to receive communication as to when we would receive the vaccine.”

Private hospital staff have also been trained by the State government. Two or three healthcare workers from each private hospital are trained via video conference, and they go on to train other staff.At ColumbiaAsia Referral Hospital, Yeshwantpur, 750 beneficiaries have registered for vaccination and the hospital has set up three rooms -- waiting, observation and vaccination. “While administering the vaccine, we will have BBMP officials as supervisors, three data entry operators and two security guards. While it is not clear when private hospitals will get the vaccine, we are prepared.

Eight of our vaccinators are trained. BBMP has informed us that healthcare workers will get a message on their phones on the vaccination date, and if they miss it, it cannot be administered the next day. Such issues need clarity,” said Dr Ranvir Singh Saluja, chief of medical services.

Dr Jagadish Hiremath, medical director, Ace Multi-Speciality Hospital, said they are expecting some communication within a day or two. “We need to know if we have to go to a vaccination site or the vaccine will be delivered to hospital. We have trained staff and created observation rooms for staff members, but are not sure of the date,” he said.