PremiumNEW DELHI : New Delhi: The lack of streamlining of covid-19 vaccine procurement process for the private sector coupled with a rise in prices of vaccines is posing challenges for private hospitals in sustaining vaccination drive at their centres.
Despite several meetings with the central government, private sector representatives have claimed that the hospitals running private covid vaccination centres (PCVCs) are not able to get covid-19 vaccines either due to the absence of coordination at state government level and/or inability on part of manufacturers to supply the vaccines.
To be sure, according to the Association of Healthcare Providers (India), that represents majority of healthcare providers in India, conducted a survey in first and second weeks of July to know the status of supply of vaccines to private hospitals. Over 70 hospitals participated in the survey.
“About 77% said they were not getting the vaccine on time. Surprisingly 41% hospitals said there were no nodal officers appointed by state governments in their localities. While in the rest of areas there were nodal officers, but 67% hospitals said there was no help from the nodal officers," Dr Girdhar Gyani, director general, AHPI said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month announced a reversal of the government’s liberalized covid vaccination policy, following criticism from the Supreme Court, states and public health experts. Under the revised vaccination policy effective June 21, 2021, the Centre is buying 75% of the total production of the vaccine manufacturers and distributing it to states. Vaccine makers can sell the remaining 25% of covid shots directly to private hospitals. The government was buying 50% of the vaccine production under the liberalized policy earlier. The Centre also decided to foot the bill for the vaccination of all citizens except for those choosing private vaccination centres.
“The new system which was to come in effect from 21 June, has still not been in full functionality," said Gyani sharing instances of hospitals that have had a tough time procuring vaccines. Bhagat Hospital in Delhi has been trying to book on COWIN without any success and finally has now placed order directly with Serum Institute of India (SII) for 6,000 doses, but yet to get any information about the supply.
Gyani further cited inequity among states in terms of response to the national covid-19 vaccination drive. “In Jharkhand the general response to vaccination is low, perhaps due to high percentage of below poverty line population who can't afford paid vaccines. Government supply is sufficient to fulfil the spontaneous demand and there is not much rush towards private vaccination," said Gyani.
Similarly, despite very few private centres in Ranchi (only four) the throughput is not more than 70-80 vaccination per day per centre. To overcome such issues, the government at Dimapur is providing free vaccines to private hospitals which are in turn providing it free to the population, informed Gyani, adding that over and above there is huge hesitancy among the large cross section of population for vaccination and the government needs to drive campaign through local representatives like gram panchayat, ASHA workers etc. to generate demand.
India last month also capped the prices of SII's Covishield at private covid vaccination centres at ₹780 per dose, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at ₹1,410 per dose and Russia’s Sputnik V at ₹1,145. It also said private hospitals can charge no more than ₹150 for administering a dose.
“While bottlenecks in procurement of vaccines by PCVCs may be one of the factors responsible for the slow pace of vaccination in the private sector, a major factor appears to be the price of the vaccine, which is ₹780 for Covishield and ₹1,410 for Covaxin, as compared to ₹250 for either, which the government had fixed earlier," said Dr Harsh Mahajan, President, NATHEALTH, healthcare federation of India.
"Consequently, most private centres which have vaccine stocks available seeing less footfall. It would appear that people are willing to wait for a free jab in the government vaccination centres," he said.
Fortis Healthcare, a noted private sector hospital chain said it has been vaccinating at its hospitals with all three vaccines and has almost exhausted stocks. “There is lack of availability of fresh stocks and complex process of procurement. In several states, there is still no clarity on how we can procure and what are timelines for delivery. Also demand for paid vaccines has fallen sharply due to widespread publicity of free vaccination," said the Fortis statement.
With low immunization numbers in PCVCs under the nationwide coronavirus inoculation drive, the Union government on Wednesday asked respective states to review vaccine procurement by PCVCs on a daily basis.
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