The central government has appealed to all the states and Union territories (UTs) to allow all private hospitals to operate as COVID19 vaccination centres.
The Centre on Tuesday told all the states/UTs to utilise 100% capacities of private hospitals to function as coronavirus vaccination centres.
The Union health ministry said the private hospitals, which are not empanelled under AB-PMJAY, Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and State Insurance Schemes, can also be utilised as coronavirus vaccination centres (CVCs).
The statement, issued by the Union health ministry said, “Private hospitals not empanelled under the above-mentioned three categories have also been permitted to operate as CVCs if they have adequate number of vaccinators, adequate space for observation of the vaccinated, adequate cold chain arrangement and adequate arrangement for management of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).”
The decision to allow all private hospitals to carry out vaccination was taken after a detailed presentation on the status of vaccination in various states/UTs, the statement said.
Also read: COVID19 vaccination: Registration on CoWIN 2.0 portal underway across India; see details
The Centre assured that it has adequate stock of COVID19 vaccines and it will provide the required vaccine doses to all the states and UTs.
The central government in its order asked all the private vaccination centres to strictly follow the proper crowd management protocols and ensure that all guidelines of the health ministry are followed while carrying out the vaccination drive.
“States/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 statement said.
The Co-WIN2.0 portal can be scaled up to accommodate all potential and eligible citizen beneficiaries and the portal should be put to effective use as the backbone of the vaccination program, the statement further said.