Private hospitals in Kerala in the dark about COVID-19 vaccination
The Hindu
With the demand for COVID-19 vaccines going up in the wake of the second wave of the coronavirus infection, new orders have been put on hold
Government hospitals in Kerala will have to handle COVID-19 vaccination alone for at least another couple of months. Those in the private sector don’t have any vaccine stock for weeks now and manufactures have told them that direct procurement may take around six months. According to Sheba Jacob, joint secretary, Kerala Private Hospitals’ Association (KPHA), many private healthcare firms have already paid money to the manufacturers to get the vaccine. “A large majority of private hospitals had stopped vaccination in April itself when the shortage was reported. They exhausted the stock by April-end or May first week. When the Centre modified norms to allow private hospitals to directly procure the doses, some of our members had approached Serum Institute of India for Covishield. They were told to wait for six months,” she said. Ms. Jacob said that though the KPHA members later approached the State government to get the vaccines, there was no clear response.More Related News