While the demand for the vaccine exceeds the supply, private hospitals say there are few takers, possibly due to the high cost of the doses.
BENGALURU: While the Karnataka government is scrambling for a huge supply of COVID vaccine doses, nearly eight lakh doses allotted to private hospitals in the state could not be reached in July. Reason: Private hospitals raised indents for only 7.2 lakh doses against the allocation of 15 lakh doses.
Of the 60 lakh doses allotted to Karnataka by the Center in July, 25% was for private hospitals. The 7.8 lakh doses that private hospitals did not deposit were lapsed. There is no clarity on whether the doses under the private hospital quota can be given to the state government. Moreover, pricing is also an issue as private hospitals pay more than the government.
Private hospitals pay manufacturers Rs 630 per dose of Covishield and Rs 1,200 for a single dose of Covaxin, while the center buys doses at Rs 205 and Rs 215, respectively.
“We have not been able to reach the state allocation under the category of private hospitals,” said Dr Arundhati Chandrasekhar, mission director, National Health Mission, Karnataka. “Private hospitals raised indents for 7.2 lakh doses and the remaining 7.8 lakh doses lapsed.”
There are concerns that a large part of the private hospital quota for August may also go unutilized. So far, 60 lakh doses have been allotted to Karnataka for the month, out of which 15 lakh doses are under private hospital quota.
Private hospitals say they have not yet been reimbursed Rs 16 lakh for the doses returned to the government on May 1. The unused doses and till they complied, the government is yet to reimburse the private hospitals money paid for the doses.
Misleading policy change
While state health department officials say it is regrettable that the state cannot utilize 100% of its allocation, although there is a severe shortage of supplies, many private hospitals have made efforts to secure supplements due to several changes in the procurement process. have left.
He also says that the government is supplying the dose when there is no demand in private hospitals, possibly due to the high cost.
Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) President Dr HM Prasanna said, “Private hospitals are really worried that vaccines will run out.” “On weekdays, there is hardly any demand in most of the private hospitals in Bengaluru. Either those who can afford it have already availed it or they are moving to government facilities where it is free. ”
For example, at Pristine Hospitals near Rajajinagar, Bangalore, out of 5,000 hospital doses, only one vial of 10 doses was used in the past week. PHANA members said private hospitals had pleaded for doses when vaccine-seekers were lined up to get shots, but the state suddenly stopped supplies.
“In March, there was a system where private hospitals used to buy doses directly from the state government,” Prasanna said. “The process was stopped in May. The demand was high then, but most private hospitals did not have supplements. If the government had continued with this system, the coverage of vaccination would have increased significantly.
poor footfall
Fana members said demand for Covishield would increase in August and September, when many people in the 18-44-year-old group would be eligible to take a second dose.
A Bengaluru-based corporate hospital that started dispensing in May said footfall is good only on weekends. Officials said that since the government is providing free doses to all people above 45 years and priority groups in the age group of 18-44 years, people are opting for free doses.
The government has reached out to corporate companies and industries to ensure that vaccines procured by private hospitals can be used for vaccination campaigns. “Companies tell us that their CSR funds have been exhausted for other COVID related activities like setting up oxygen plants,” Arundhati said.
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