Pvt hosps can set up vax camps in private offices: BMC

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now allow private hospitals to set up Covid-19 vaccination camps at private offices too. Also, starting Monday, vaccination at 62 private hospitals, which was suspended on Friday owing to shortage of vaccine doses, will resume in the city.

The BMC on Friday had announced complete closure of all private hospitals acting as vaccination centres owing to shortage of vaccines in the city. The shortage of vaccines was reflecting on the ground since last Tuesday when several private hospitals could not vaccinate owing to shortage of vaccines.

Speaking on tie-up with private offices, Dr Mangala Gomare, chief of BMC’s public health department said, “We will give permissions to private hospitals to tie up with offices having over 100 employees to set up vaccination camps there. This will help us cover maximum citizens in the permitted age group.”

This is in line with Central government’s guidelines, civic officials said.

Dr Gomare added, “There will be a set of protocols to be followed by private hospitals like having doctors and an emergency vehicle in case of adverse effect. The whole process will be done as per the guidelines issues by the government from time to time.”

Further, according to the BMC, 62 private hospitals out of the total 71 have made the purchase for vaccines on Sunday and will restart the drive on Monday. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, “Overall, 235,000 doses were received. From Monday onwards, we will start vaccination at most private hospitals.”

On Thursday, 25 private vaccination centres were shut owing to the shortage that went up to over 50 by Friday. On Friday, several government facilities also ran out of vaccine doses due to which over 50% vaccination centres were shut in the city. Overall, in the city, there are 120 vaccination centres and till now 1,635,372 citizens have been vaccinated. Of these, 257,675 are health care workers, 278,841 are frontline workers, 658,373 are citizens above the age of 60 years, and 440,843 are citizens between the ages of 45 and 59.

In Dharavi, the former hotspot of the city, the BMC vaccinated 360 citizens on Sunday. Meanwhile, overall, on Sunday, 33,256 citizens were vaccinated, of which 580 were health care workers, 1,149 were front line workers, 7,290 were senior citizens above the age of 60 years and 24,237 were between the age of 45 and 59. On an average, in the city, around 50,000 citizens are vaccinated daily, but the daily average dipped due to shortage of vaccines.