Vaccination to resume at NMC centres today

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) received Covishield vaccine from the state government on Thursday evening. The vaccination of all citizens above 18 years of age and above 45 years of age will resume on Friday at the government centres including all the NMC centres. Covishield will be provided free of cost to citizens in this age group.
Citizens will be vaccinated from 10am to 4pm. Registration can be done both online and offline. At present, Covshield is available at NMC and other government centres while Covaxin is at three centres – Government Medical College, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, Indora and Late Prabhakarrao Datke Hospital.
Meanwhile, private hospitals asking for more than the fixed charges for vaccines are now under the NMC scanner. Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B, on Thursday, ordered Wockhardt Hospital to reimburse the surcharge for Covishield vaccine they were charging from the beneficiaries.
As per the NMC, private vaccination centres are expected to charge Rs780 for Covishield vaccination. But Wockhardt hospital was found charging Rs1,050. A citizen lodged a complaint with the health department. The municipal corporation issued the first notice to the hospital administration on June 24. After receiving no reply from the hospital administration, the health department recently sent a reminder and warned disciplinary action against the hospital.
After the final warning, the hospital admitted the mistake. According to the hospital administration’s policy, a registration fee of Rs 270 was being charged. But now, as per the instructions of the corporation administration, the prescribed fee of Rs780 will be charged for each vaccination. The hospital administration has also clarified that those who were earlier charged Rs1,050 for vaccination will get the additional amount reimbursed.