After the State Health Department instructed private hospitals to furnish details of healthcare workers for COVID-19 vaccination, 197 hospitals have updated the details of their staff on the CoWIN app. Officials also added that the process of identifying vaccination sites at private hospitals is in progress.
Chennai:
So far, 1,19,951 healthcare workers from private hospitals including small clinics in the State have registered on CoWIN app. The highest is in Chennai where 33 hospitals have registered.
Earlier, the private hospitals were laggard in uploading the details of healthcare workers. “About 80 per cent private hospitals have been uploaded details,” said an official. Only 15-20 per cent of private hospital staff have received the vaccines so far.
Dr TS Selvavinayagam, Director, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said vaccination sites would be increased to one per block in rural areas, one per zone in urban areas other than private hospitals to ensure proper accessibility. Officials have been setting up more than 200 vaccination sites across the State, he said, adding that private establishments with more than 150 healthcare staff would be permitted to have their vaccination site after a review by the Health Department.
Vaccination drive for govt staff likely to be delayed
The drive to vaccinate frontline workers from the Home, Municipal Administration and Revenue departments is likely to be delayed, as the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the drive is being put in place only now. The Health Department will hold a joint meeting with the departments to be covered in the next phase of the vaccination drive to finalise the SOP, said officials, adding that it is likely to commence by Saturday.
The initial plan was to begin vaccinating frontline workers from these departments – numbering about six lakh – from February 1 as announced by Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar and also by the Union Government. While several other states have started the vaccination for these officials, it is yet to take off in Tamil Nadu.
According to Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, the web portal to register the frontline workers for COVID-19 vaccines has been opened. The respective departments, including police, Revenue, Municipal Administration, and civic bodies including the Greater Chennai Corporation, are working on a specific implementation plan for the vaccination drive across the State.
“We will work on a comprehensive plan for the vaccination drive for frontline workers,” he added.
Senior officials from the Health Department said that the vaccination is likely to commence by Saturday. The standard operating procedure and directions to the hospitals to be made for additional vaccination sites and other procedures are currently being planned, officials added.
Meanwhile, 8,058 more healthcare workers and their dependents were administered the vaccines on Monday. This includes 7,951 who received Covishield and 107 who received Covaxin. This is against the Health Department’s planned capacity to vaccinate 40,000 persons. So far, 1,20,467 persons have been vaccinated in Tamil Nadu since the drive commenced on January 16.
The Deputy Directors of Health Services have been instructed to inspect private session sites for cold chain equipment and the number of sessions at each private hospital. The vaccinators and members for the vaccination drive would also be identified by the deputy directors in the respective district, he added.
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