Jharkhand: Districts to check for vaccine overpricing in private hospitals

RANCHI: The state department of health, medical education and family welfare on Thursday said the administrations of all 24 districts have been directed to keep an eye on the fees charged by private hospitals for Covid-19 vaccines and ensure that no one pays more than the prescribed amount for shots at these healthcare facilities.
“We have records of the number of Covid vaccines procured by private hospitals.Any complaint of hospitals charging more than the prescribed amount will be dealt with legally,” Siddarth Tripathy, nodal officer of the department’s IEC wing, said.
Notably, in a letter to the chief secretaries and health secretaries on June 8, the Union ministry of health, medical education and family welfare laid out separate rates for one dose of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V vaccines to be levied by private hospitals.
As per the rates, they can charge up to Rs 780 for one dose of Covishield, Rs 1,410 for a dose of Covaxin and Rs 1,145 for a jab of Sputnik V. The charges include price per dose as declared by the manufacturers (Rs 600 for Covishield, Rs 1,200 for Covaxin and Rs 948 for Sputnik V), a service charge of Rs 150 and GST between Rs 30 and Rs 60.
Even though the Centre will provide free vaccines for all age groups from June 21, vaccine makers can sell 25% of their monthly production to private hospitals and healthcare providers for paid vaccination drive. At present, two private hospitals in Jharkhand (one in Ranchi and another in Bokaro) are providing paid jabs to age groups between 18-44 years.
The department has also asked the district administrations to facilitate the vaccination of beneficaries who are due for international travel. On Wednesday, the Centre relaxed the gap between two doses of Covishield for international travelers to four weeks from 12.
The department on Thursday also said that all Covid hospitals in Jharkhand have been directed to conduct regular fire safety audit, procure no objection certificates from the fire department and appoint one fire safety nodal officer.