Friday, 04 June 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Hamstrung by the shortage of vaccines in the government centres for people in the age group of 18-44 years in Uttarakhand, the state health department has now decided to take the help of private hospitals and industrial units in the vaccination drive.
On Thursday, the director general (DG) of state health services, Dr Tripti Bahuguna held talks with representatives of private hospitals of Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Dehradun districts and industrial units. Informing about the meeting Dr Bahuguna said that the population of 18-44 year age group people in Uttarakhand is 50 lakh. She said that due to shortage of vaccines made available by the Union government more time is being taken in the vaccination due to which it is imperative to coordinate between the private hospitals and industrial units.
The director of National Health Mission (NHM), Dr Saroj Naithani said that 131 private hospitals were involved in vaccination drive of 45 plus population in Uttarakhand. She said that vaccination of people in the 18-44 years age group is being done at only four private centres now and 27 more such centres have started the process of purchasing vaccines. She stressed that the industrial units should encourage their employees to get vaccinated at private centres so that the task of vaccination is completed in time.
The representative of Industry suggested that the state government should set up the maximum user charge which the private centres can take from the people for vaccination. It is worth mentioning here that the government has fixed Rs 900 for one dose of vaccine and for vaccination at work place the private hospitals can levy a user charge. In Gurugram for example a user charge of Rs 250 is levied by the private hospitals and the representatives suggested that in Uttarakhand the user charge should not be more than Rs 250.
The meeting was attended by state immunisation officer Dr Kuldeep Martolia, the representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organisation (WHO), Indian Medical Association (IMA) and private hospitals.
