Private hospitals may get vaccines based on jabs administered

Private hospitals will have to project their monthly demand for vaccine doses and share it with state governments from now on, as the ministry of health’s new vaccine guidelines came into force from Monday. Senior executives say that there have been no specific guidelines on the procurement process, but as per discussions with state government officials, hospitals will have to place orders on the National Health Authority (NHA) portal.

“Most hospitals did not receive vaccines after May 1. Now with the revised policy, hospitals will project their monthly requirement to respective state governments. The hospitals will be allotted the vaccine doses based on their immediate past consumption,” said Girdhar Gyani, director general, Association of Healthcare Providers India (APHI).

According to an executive with a leading private hospital, doses will be allocated to hospitals based on their average consumption over the last month. For example, if one hospital was able to vaccinate 100-persons per day then it would get 3,000 doses for the month. Based on this aggregated demand, the state government will facilitate supply to private hospitals and process payment through the NHA’s electronic platform.

“This, of course, will also depend upon the number of applicant hospitals and total allotment made for the state,” Gyani said.

For many top private hospitals though, there is no immediate vaccine requirement. “Not too many people are coming up for vaccination so there is no immediate requirement and we are comfortable as of now. In the last few weeks, the demand for vaccination has gone down so we have some stocks left and hence don’t need vaccines immediately,” said an executive.

Under the revised guidelines the Centre will procure 75% of the Covid-19 vaccines being produced by manufacturers and distribute them to the states, to be administered for free. Private hospitals will be able to access the remaining 25%, and this arrangement of centralising orders via NHA will ensure an equitable distribution.