Vaccination of senior citizens underway at a hospital on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) More private hospitals are set to be added to the list of Covid vaccination centres in the capital, said officials. Currently, 136 private hospitals have been roped in to administer the shot under phase 2 of the vaccination drive, which covers those over 60 and between the ages of 45-59 with co-morbidities.
On Wednesday, 15,419 beneficiaries over 60 and between 45 and 59 years were vaccinated. The total number of people, including healthcare and frontline workers, vaccinated on Wednesday was recorded at 25,054. On Tuesday, 74% of the beneficiaries turned up at private facilities, while 26% at the government institutes.
βThe idea is to vaccinate as many people in the second phase. According to the Centre’s directives, all private hospitals can give the vaccine, following the norms. We are in the process of adding more private hospitals and centres to the existing list,β said a senior state health department official.
The move comes a day after the Centre permitted all private hospitals to give the vaccine if they adhere to the laid down norms. It also asked states and union territories to utilise optimum capacity of private medical facilities empanelled under three categories β Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the state health insurance schemes β to enable them to effectively function as Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs).
At present, vaccination is being carried out at 308 centres across 192 sites.
While the service is free at government facilties, it costs Rs 250 at private hospitals. In the last two days, private hospitals have witnessed a huge rush with many coming in for the vaccine.
To boost numbers at government facilities, each session site has been asked to increase the daily limit of the beneficiaries.