Ghaziabad identifies two govt hospitals for third phase of COVID vaccination

For the third phase of Covid-19 vaccination that begins on Monday, the Ghaziabad health department has identified two government hospitals in the district where vaccine doses will be provided free of cost. Health officials said that one private hospital also came forward and procured the vaccine from the department. However, people willing to get vaccinated will have to pay ₹250 per dose at the private facility, they said.

The officials said that citizens can also walk in at two of the government hospitals — the district women hospital and Sanjay Nagar combined district hospital — and also at the private facility — Yashoda Hospital at Kaushambi — to get vaccinated.

The health department said that the “soft launch” for the third phase of vaccination will cover citizens aged 60 years and above and also those aged 45 years and above but having co-morbid conditions. They added that people can pre-register their choice of vaccination centre through the updated version of Co-Win 2.0 app and will be able to get date and time schedule.

“Apart from pre-registration that will begin on Monday, citizens can also walk in at two of our government hospitals and also other private hospitals who are procuring vaccine doses from the health department. Any citizen (belonging to the third category) can register or walk-in and produce documents before he/she gets opportunity to get vaccinated,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, Ghaziabad.

“The third option is vaccination through mobilisation in which our health-care staff will mobilize people, primarily in rural areas, to reach their nearest centre and get the vaccination done. We have sent 100 doses each to the two of our government hospitals where vaccine will be given free of cost. Besides, Yashoda Hospital at Kaushambi has procured 100 doses of Covishield from the health department. More private hospitals are likely to procure vaccine in coming days,” Gupta said.

He said that Covishield is initially sent to the three hospitals as one vial contains 10 doses, while one vial of Covaxin contains 20 doses.

“So, Covishield has low wastage rate. The private hospitals will pay up for purchase of a vaccine dose at the rate of ₹150 and they will charge a maximum of ₹250 per dose from their customers,” Gupta added.

Yashoda Hospital at Kaushambi confirmed that it received 100 doses of Covishield and vaccination will start on Monday. “People can come with documents either through walk-in or after registration through the Co-Win 2.0 app. The staff at our centre will verify their documents based on age criteria laid down by the government and also their documents (prescriptions by doctors) in case they have co-morbidities,” said a spokesperson of the hospital.

To simplify the process of registration, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has come up with Co-Win 2.0 app. The beneficiaries will consist of citizens who will attain the age of 60 years or more as on January 1, 2022. The other group consists of citizens who are aged or will attain the age of 45 years to 59 years as on January 1, 2022 and have any specified comorbidities.

“The private hospitals will include all hospitals empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) and hospitals empanelled under the health insurance scheme(s) of the state government. In Ghaziabad, we have 26 private hospitals under PMJAY and about 50-60 under the CGHS scheme,” the CMO said.

The district has already completed the final mop-up round for first category (health-care workers) and for the second category (front-line workers).

Hindustan Times