No vaccines in Bengaluru pvt hospitals due to supply shortage

The shortage of Covid vaccines isn't limited to government hospitals. Even private hospitals have been hit, and many have pulled out of the vaccination programme.

While 33 private establishments in Bengaluru have so far ordered 21.71 lakh doses, they received only 15.63 lakh doses as of June 2. Their orders included 18,41,620 doses of Covishield and 3,29,680 doses of Covaxin.

The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) says vaccine manufacturers have put a minimum order requirement, affecting small hospitals.

On Thursday, a meeting between health department officials and representatives of 300 hospitals revealed that Covid vaccination is available at only 52 private establishments in Bengaluru, as against 231 government sites. The reason is obvious: unavailability of vaccines.

Private establishments have sought the health department's help to liaise with the manufacturers on their behalf.

Dr Y L Rajashekar, Secretary, PHANA, said that only 50 private hospitals were doing vaccination now, as against the nearly 1,000 that had taken part in the first two phases of coronavirus immunisation. And going by the rate of vaccination, these 50 hospitals will need another two or three weeks to use up their stock.

"If other hospitals had vaccines, more people could've been inoculated in the next three weeks," Rajashekar said. "It's important that more private hospitals have vaccine stocks."

PHANA president Dr H M Prasanna said manufacturers had placed minimum order requirements for delivering the vaccines, effectively keeping out small private establishments.

According to him, a hospital must place an order for at least 5,000 doses, which works out to Rs 30 lakh at Rs 600 per dose of Covishield. Small hospitals don't have that kind of money, he said.

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Dr Prasanna said the state government had promised to negotiate with the manufacturers on behalf of PHANA. Once the manufacturers assure supply, PHANA will take the vaccine procurement loans from HDFC, SBI and Canara Bank on behalf of hospitals. The interest payments (6% to 7% per annum) will be shared by PHANA members to ensure the supply to smaller hospitals that can't pay for more than 100 doses at a time, he explained.

The PHANA chief lamented that even the Association of Healthcare Providers of India hasn't yet got the supplies that it had ordered for small hospitals across the country.

"We have asked the government to appoint a nodal officer to facilitate vaccine procurement like it did for Remdesivir, Liposomal Amphotericin B and liquid medical oxygen," he said.