New Delhi: It was a seamless few minutes from registration to vaccination for a retired Hyderabad-based engineer who took his first Covid-19 shot at a government facility on 3 March. A similar experience was recounted by Varun Pratap of Delhi, who says he faced no hassle getting his mother vaccinated at a private hospital in the capital.
However, Abhijit Gopalakrishnan of Kerala’s Pallipuram had a hard time trying to find a vaccination centre for his 67-year-old mother. Delhi-based journalist Pinaki had to bring his mother back after the private vaccination centre they approached ran out of vials on 2 March, but had a smooth experience when they returned the next day.
Five days in, the second phase of the Covid vaccination drive in India is a mixed bag of cheers and complaints. While many have returned from vaccination centres with accounts of a hassle-free experience, several others have been turned back because the hospitals either hadn’t received their stock yet or had run out of it.
The second phase of the vaccination drive — targeting senior citizens and those aged 45 years and above with comorbidities — was rolled out last Monday.
A day before, the Union Ministry of Health had released a list of10,000 private hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat and more than600 hospitals empanelled under Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), apart from those registered with state schemes, to guide beneficiaries on the private facilities they can approach for paid vaccination (apart from government hospitals, which are offering the vaccines for free).
On Wednesday, the ministry included other private hospitals that meet certain criteria to join the drive in a bid to reach a larger section of population.
As of Saturday night, a total of 2,06,62,073 people — over 2 crore — vaccine doses (both 1st and 2nd doses within a gap of 28 days) have been administered across the India. The vaccine has been administered to 30,05,039 beneficiaries aged over 60 years, and 4,60,782 beneficiaries aged 45 and above with specific comorbidities.
The distribution of vaccines is currently being overseen by the central government in coordination with states and union territories. For supplies to private hospitals, state/UT hospitals first check whether the facilities fit certain criteria. The hospitals then have to submit an advance based on the number of vials they want (Rs 150/dose), following which they are provided the vaccines by the district immunisation officer concerned.
Each private hospital assesses their own requirement before moving a request before the state/UT authorities.
Also Read: Are you above 45? Here are the 20 comorbidities that qualify you for Covid vaccine
Mixed bag
The Hyderabad-based retired engineer mentioned above trawled the Co-WIN portal after phase 2 began, and, on 3 March, reached one of the vaccination centres listed. Once there, he was immediately registered and given a shot.
“It was a smooth process,” he said.
Gopalakrishnan of Pallipuram, a village in Alappuzha, got a list of all the private hospitals in his area as well, but says he had a difficult experience finding a vaccination centre.
“I picked the places that were nearby and started calling there, but none of the private hospitals had any information about the vaccine,” he added. “So, I thought, maybe, Kochi (or) Ernakulam is a bigger city so I can try to find something there, but even there it was the same story.”
Several centres listed by the Union health ministry are indeed yet to start the vaccination process for the second phase even as they push on with the first one.
Among them is the Ernakulam Medical Centre (EMC), one of the private hospitals Gopalakrishnan contacted. “We have made the payment for the vials, and we should hopefully get the vials… Once that is done, we will start off with the second dose as well as the general public,” said Dr Vinod Xavier Franklin, a consultant microbiologist and infection control officer at EMC, speaking to ThePrint last week.
Asked about the reasons behind the delay, Franklin said one factor was that the state government had decided to vaccinate polling officers Monday and Tuesday on account of the upcoming assembly elections.
Similar reports have come from the Siliguri Greater Lions Eye Hospital, the only vaccination centre listed for Jalpaiguri district.
“From the Centre, our name has been given, but, from the district, there has been no information about the vaccination, no training, the vaccine hasn’t come either… We’re getting at least 50 calls a day for the vaccine,” said a staff member, who didn’t wish to be named.
ThePrint emailed the hospital for an official comment last week, but was yet to receive a response at the time of publishing this report.
An email to the Union health ministry seeking a comment about the complaints didn’t elicit a response either.
Experts, however, say these are “teething troubles” that will be sorted out in coming days. “I feel that’s more of a teething issue and will be resolved within the first few days,” said Indranil Mukopadhyay, a health economist and professor at O.P. Jindal Global University.
Also Read: Modi image on Covid vaccination certificate is ‘self-projection, politics’, some parties cry
Some complaints of dosage crunch in Delhi
At some Delhi hospitals, there have been complaints about a dosage crunch, even as others say they are well equipped.
“Since the elderly are registering and coming on their own, the number of beneficiaries has gone up in both government and private centres,” said a senior doctor on Covid-19 duty at a key government hospital.
“Since the number of private vaccination centres is higher, we feel they’ve eaten into the number of doses available at government centres,” added the doctor, who didn’t wish to be named.
At Delhi government’s Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH), media spokesperson Chhavi Gupta said: “Our vials have been getting over by 2 pm, of which those for 60 years and above are over by 12:30 or so and then we begin the second doses. We use about 11 vials daily, which leads to 110 beneficiaries, but ideally we need to have at least 20 vials per day.”
However, Gupta clarified that they have not raised the demand for more doses with the government.
Meanwhile, at RML Hospital, one of the six central government-run hospitals in Delhi, Dr Neelam Roy, the nodal officer for vaccination, said they received the vials in bulk and so far hadn’t experienced any shortages as such.
Dr Dhiren Malik, medical superintendent at the private Saroj Super Speciality Hospital, said the number of vials being used had gone up in the last two-three days. “We anyway pay to get the vials and have ordered for 1,000 more just this morning to ensure we are safe,” he added.
ThePrint reached Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, Principal Secretary, Health, Vikram Dev Dutt, as well as Delhi Director General Health Services Nutan Mundeja through calls and messages for comments, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.
Malini Aisola, co-convener of the All India Drug Action Network, a group of NGOs working to ensure free healthcare access, said there “appears to be a huge demand which large private hospital centres are unable to keep up with”.
“So while I’ve heard a lot about such incidents, one is trying to figure out whether it’s only due to shortage of vials or because large crowds are coming in due to pre-registration through portals and walk-ins,” she added.
According to Mukhopadhyay, the alleged shortage of vaccination doses is a real problem. “We don’t seem to be equipped to deal with the sort of supplies we need for such a massive drive… the private health sector does not have a great track record in India during such massive vaccination drives.”
On the need to enhance facilities for vaccination in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who got his first shot Thursday, told the media that his government is in touch with the Centre and will act on the latter’s directions.
Also Read: Not just Accenture & Infosys, but ‘thousands of firms’ look to vaccinate staff against Covid
The centralized online registration seems to be a step at plugging leakages, restricting black market and recording the numbers who have been vaccinated. Despite small delays in registering the process beyond is very smooth, well organized, and with amazing sensitivity. The certificate of first dose comes in minutes.