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'All private hospitals can give COVID-19 vaccines only if....': Center releases guidelines

'All private hospitals can give COVID-19 vaccines only if....': Center releases guidelines

In order to ramp up the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country, the centre on Tuesday said that all the private hospitals are now allowed to provide COVID-19 vaccines only if they adhere to certain guidelines. Read to know more.

Written by Satata Karmakar |Updated : March 3, 2021 9:46 AM IST

In order to increase the COVID-19 vaccination drive in India, which began from Monday (earlier this week), the government has permitted all the private hospitals to administer a vaccine against COVID-19 if they adhere to the laid down norms and also asked the states and union territories to utilise the optimum capacity of private medical facilities empanelled under three categories.

Speaking to the media, the Union Health Ministry said, "The states and Union territories were also urged not to store, preserve, conserve or create a buffer stock of the COVID-19 vaccines".

Mass COVID-19 Vaccination Programme

This comes a day after the start of the second phase of India's inoculation drive in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with specified co-morbidities.

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At an official review meeting with the states, the Centre reiterated there is no shortage of the vaccines and hence, adequate vaccine doses should be allocated to the COVID-19 Vaccination Centres(CVCs).

"The central government has adequate stock and will provide the required vaccine doses to the states and UTs," it said.

Adhere To These Guidelines While Administering COVID-19 Vaccines

1. The Centre urged the states and the UTs to ensure adequate allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to all hospitals, government as well as private, for the entire duration for which vaccination sessions have been planned.

2. It asked them to utilise the optimum capacity of all private hospitals empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the state health insurance schemes to enable them to effectively function as CVCs.

3. The states and UTs were asked to regularly collaborate with the private hospitals to ensure that their optimum capacity for vaccination is utilised.

"Private hospitals not empanelled under the above-mentioned three categories have also been permitted to operate as CVCs if they have an adequate number of vaccinators, adequate space for observation of the vaccinated, adequate cold chain arrangement and adequate arrangement for the management of Adverse Events Following Immunisation(AEFI)," the statement said.

The statement also added, "All the government health facilities, all private hospitals empanelled under the CGHS, the AB-PMJAY and the state health insurance schemes can function as CVCs, subject to them mandatorily adhering to certain norms."

All Private Vaccination Centres Should Have Effective Crowd Management Protocols In Place, Along With:

1. Proper facilities for seating

2. Adequate arrangement for drinking water

3. Proper signage etc.

The ministry also said that the hospitals should also ensure adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour among the beneficiaries.

"We will ensure that the state and district administrations are proactively facilitating this," the health ministry said.

It further added, "Further, states and UTs in consultation with the private hospitals should open the vaccination slots for 15 days to a month and announce this as part of their Vaccine Time Table."

The Co-WIN2.0 portal can be scaled up to accommodate all potential and eligible beneficiaries. The portal should be put to effective use as the backbone of the vaccination programme, it further said.

They also reviewed the status and pace of the second phase of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination programme.