The Central Government has revised its SOP with regard to the procurement of vaccines by private hospitals. The SOP, which has been sent to multiple hospitals in Mumbai, says that private hospitals have to place new orders for vaccines through the CoWin app starting July 1. Hospitals have also been told that they can’t place new orders for vaccines directly from the manufacturers starting Thursday.
The Centre has decided to come up with a ‘maximum monthly limit’ of vaccines that a private vaccination centre can acquire. This is to make sure that all vaccination centres get exactly as much as they need. The limit will be determined by taking the average daily consumption of vaccines in any chosen week from the previous month and doubling it.
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Hospitals will have the liberty to choose the week from the previous month to determine the aforementioned maximum monthly limit of vaccines. For example, if a hospital administers 100 doses per day (3,000 per month), they would receive 6,000 doses of the vaccine. The SOP goes on to say that the monthly limit can be revised depending on the consumption after the first 15 days of the month.
As for health centres that haven’t vaccinated people yet but are planning to, the quantum of vaccines allotted to them will be determined by the number of beds available in the hospital. A 50-bed hospital may order up to 3,000 doses while a 50-300 bed capacity hospital can order up to 6,000 vials of the vaccine, and a 300+ bed hospital is eligible to order 10,000 doses.
“There will be no need for approval by any government authority. Successful submission of the procurement order on CoWin shall be sufficient,” the SOP said. Private vaccination centres will have to pay for the vaccines on the National Health Authority portal.
Many are open to the idea as it would offer more transparency to the process. COO of PD Hinduja Hospital, Joy Chakraborty said, “All hospitals, big or small, can log on to CoWin and place their demands. They needn’t have direct contact with manufacturers which was a hindrance for many.”
The move would also likely augment vaccine distribution as long as there are no hold-ups in the approval process. Mumbai recorded its highest vaccinations in a day on Wednesday, reaching 1.8 lakh inoculations.
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