Hospitals in Maharashtra struggle with disposal of near-expiry Covid vax

With close to 60,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines set to expire in Mumbai, private hospitals across the state said they are unaware how to dispose of the significant amount of Covishield and Covaxin that is lying with them.

The proprietor of a private hospital in suburban Mumbai that has been at the forefront of conducting major vaccination drives in the city, said his stock of around 45,000 vaccines are set to expire on March 5.

Faced with the near-expiry vaccines, private hospitals last month were hoping that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) replace their old stock with vaccines that have a longer shelf life. Officials in the civic body however said it was not possible to do so owing to technical challenges.

“There is no clarity on how to dispose of the vaccines that will expire on March 5. We are waiting for instructions from the civic body and state government,” said the proprietor. Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC said, “The hospitals have to follow the biomedical waste protocols.”

Speaking to HT, DR Gahane, joint commissioner, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) said, “The hospitals have to follow the same distribution channel through which they have procured the vaccines from the manufacturer. It will be the manufacturer who will dispose of the expired vaccines after following the bio medical norms of the pollution control board.” He said they will speak to the state health department and issue clarity on the same.

Since the nationwide vaccination drive started last year, private hospitals have given 6325699 vaccination doses, and BMC-run vaccination centres have completed a total of 12522274 vaccinations till date.

While the daily total vaccination doses administered at BMC-run vaccination centres is around 20,000 to 30,000, the number stands between 1500-3000 at private hospitals.

Dr Santosh Shetty, CEO, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital said they have kept aside the vials that will expire this week and will ask the manufacturer if there is a disposal mechanism to be followed. He said 10,000 doses will expire this week.

Private hospitals are also looking forward to the Indian Medical Association to negotiate with the state government.

Dr Shashank Shah of Lapro Obeso Centre, Pune, which has close to 8,000 doses that will expire on March 5, said though they have tried to give free vaccination in the last 8-10 days, a significant number of doses will expire.

Calling it a health catastrophe that could have been prevented, Dr Shah said, “Vaccine is an important resource that shouldn’t have been wasted. It has been two months since the news of the expiry date of vaccines first surfaced and the government should have taken some steps to ensure it gets utilised. This was totally preventable.”

He said these doses could have been used as booster doses or given to poor countries. “I don’t feel like discarding the expired vaccines. I will continue to keep it in the cold storage and await some relief from the government. We anyway have no clarity on how to discard the expired vaccines,” said Dr Shah.

Dr Gautam Bhansali, chief coordinator, private Covid-19 hospitals said Mumbai has close to 60,000 that will expire on March 5. “Many hospitals like ours (Bombay Hospital), had started giving near-expiry vaccines free of cost. By March 5, a major part will get exhausted because of it,” he said.

The Indian Medical Association-Maharashtra, which has been getting requests from its members to speak to the state government said they expect the government or the manufacturer to buy back the vaccines that are expiring.

“We stood by the government when the vaccination drive was started. It was because of the active participation by the private hospitals that led to the present vaccine coverage in the country. Private hospitals invested their money and now the government should help them out. We at IMA- Maharashtra demand either the manufacturer or the government should buy the vaccines that’s expiring,” said Dr Mangesh Pate, secretary, IMA-Maharashtra.

Health analyst Ravi Duggal said while he believes that the government shouldn’t have allowed private hospitals to purchase Covid vaccines independently, he said, “A lot of time was wasted and now it has come to the last minute. They should have acted much earlier. For private hospitals, it was a business decision which involved both profit and loss.” Hindustan Times