Private hospitals account for 15% vaccinations in Maharashtra; Mumbai, Pune, Thane in lead

MUMBAI: Private sector in Maharashtra has administered 15% of the Covid-19 vaccine doses given so far. However, paid vaccination has been largely limited to three major urban districts— Mumbai, Pune and Thane— which together account for 85% of private immunization in the state.
And within the private sector, stocks are skewed towards the bigger hospital chains with more buying power.
As per BMC’s figures, private hospitals in Mumbai were in possession of 98lakh doses (65 lakh of Covishield and 33 lakh of Covaxin), as on September 14. HN Reliance Hospital in Charni Road held almost 70% of it, including 40lakh doses of Covishield and 29lakh doses of Covaxin, officials told TOI. Godrej Hospital in Vikhroli had 3 lakh doses, Jaslok and Nanavati had 2.5 lakh each, Apollo and Surya in SantaCruz had nearly 1lakh. Some 170-odd hospitals barely have stocks of a few thousand doses to less than a lakh.
Of the seven crore vaccinations in Maharashtra, 1.03crore doses were administered in the private sector as on September 13. But almost two-thirds of the 36 districts didn’t see any paid vaccination. And among the ones that did, Mumbai (43lakh), Pune (27 lakh) and Thane (17 lakh) have the lion’s share. Among the rest, Raigad vaccinated 3.34 lakh, Aurangabad (2.41 lakh), Nagpur (1.46 lakh), Kolhapur (1.07 lakh).
An official said districts that have achieved higher coverage had the advantage of private vaccination. Mumbai where at least 80% of the adult population is immunised with at least one dose had more than 43% of doses administered in the private sector. Districts with the lowest coverage like Nanded (30%), Hingoli (33%) and Nandurbar (36%) didn’t see any paid vaccination.
Additional commissioner Suresh Kakani said the BMC has done 10 lakh vaccinations through CSR facilitated by private hospitals. HN Reliance has donated the maximum—five lakh doses, followed by Godrej and Jaslok with one lakh each. Surana too has given nearly 1lakh doses under CSR, while Cipla has donated 50,000. A Reliance spokesperson said the hospital has rolled out free vaccination for all employees and their families and “scaled up across the country” through free vaccination drives, adding the Mumbai stocks are reflective of overall procurement.
Dr Ravi Duggal, a public health researcher, who is critical of the paid vaccination policy, said the government should have partnered with the private sector to administer doses without allowing them to buy stocks. “Vaccines available with private hospitals should be used under the public vaccination program with government reimbursing the cost of the vaccines. The demand for vaccines is increasing … so whatever is available with the private sector should be added to the public kitty,” he said.
A hospital head, however, justified bulk purchases saying they have tie-ups with corporates to provide second doses and it makes sense to procure big volumes at a time. “It is also easier for manufacturers to deliver,” he said.