Vaccination drive at private hospitals to continue across Kolkata

KOLKATA: Covid vaccination centres at private facilities across the city will continue to conduct the inoculation drive despite the Centre’s capping on the service charge. But many private hospitals hope the Centre would reconsider the limiting of service charge to Rs 150 per dose, and also lower the vaccine price supplied to private players.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that vaccines to all government centres would be free and that private facilities could charge Rs 150 extra for administering a dose.“The Prime Minister has capped the service charge, which was open earlier. We welcome the move. But it would have been better if private hospitals could also procure vaccines at the same cost as that of the government. This would have made vaccines more affordable for people going to private CVCs,” said Rupak Barua, group CEO at AMRI Hospitals.
Currently, private facilities charge Rs 200 to Rs 300 for administering a dose. Hospitals said they would wait for a guideline on the capped price. “We will continue to work on the vaccination of all categories of people and try protecting as many people as we can. We also appeal to the government to increase the service charge cap as this will not be enough to cover all expenses,” said Rupali Basu, managing director, Woodlands.