Private healthcare providers gear up for COVID vax drive

The country’s private health care providers are gearing up to participate in the nationwide Covid-19 immunisation drive planned for 2021.

While the government has met industry bodies that represent hospitals and diagnostic labs, the industry, on its part, is drafting out the road map for vaccination and where they can chip in.

According to sources, the government has sought data in two templates. One template will have details on how much human resources can the private sector mobilise, how much CSR funds can be mobilised, how many vaccinations can be handled each day, and which are the areas that they can cover. The other template will have data on cold-chain logistics, what kind of refrigeration facilities does the private sector have, and what kind of storage facilities can they offer.

Industry bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, and Nathealth-Healthcare Federation of India are working with the government on the road map.

Joy Chakraborty, Hinduja Hospital chief operating officer, and the chairman (health care) at the CII Western Region, said that the central committee of CII has constituted a task force for vaccine administration. The task force is led by T V Narendran, the president-designate CII, and Dr. Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, Delhi.

“An interaction has happened with the national expert group of vaccine administration, led by Dr. V K Paul, member-health, NITI Aayog, and also the chairman of the committee on vaccine administration,” Chakraborty said.

Private sector role

Private diagnostic players feel antibody testing and vaccination would go hand in hand.

Anand K, chief executive, SRL Diagnostics, said: “Antibody tests and vaccination done at the same place is a practical idea. A person first takes an antibody test, if he has antibodies, he does not need a vaccine immediately. If he does not have antibodies, he can be vaccinated. Similarly, antibody testing is required for assessing the efficacy after vaccination. Diagnostic chains can play a critical role here.” SRL has a network of more than 400 labs and 1,500 touchpoints.

Also, private diagnostic players are located deep into the hinterland. Ameera Shah, promoter and managing director, Metropolis Healthcare, said that of their 2,500 centres across the country (equipped with refrigerators and phlebotomists) many are in smaller towns and cities. “We are present across 210 cities. Metros and major cities would be maximum 15 or so, therefore, the rest are in smaller towns,” she said. About 45 per cent of the tests in India are done by the private sector, said Alok Roy, chair at FICCI (health services committee), and chairman of Medica Group.

chart

“If the government wants a faster vaccination drive, it has to be through private sector participation,” Roy said, adding that FICCI was submitting its strategy paper this week.

Just like fever clinics now run in leading hospitals, vaccination sites or clinics can be run, too. “We now have fever clinics, where we see 200 patients a day. If we adopt a similar approach for vaccination, we can vaccinate 400 people a day in our out-patient department. We can do 10,000 a month,” Roy said.

The industry is, however, awaiting clear policy guidelines from the government.

Strengthening back-end

The sector has begun back-end planning in the meanwhile. Dr. Bishnu Panigrahi, group head, medical strategies and operations, Fortis Healthcare, said private chains, like theirs, have started identifying manpower and hospitals that will be participating in the drive.

“We would need to plan storage. Once the team is identified, relevant training related to the specific vaccine would be done. The first task would be to vaccinate all our health care workers. We are also connecting with our partner hospitals and nursing homes who can take the drive deeper into the hinterland,” Panigrahi said.

Roughly six to eight vaccinations can be done per hour, he said.

Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals Group has already indicated that it is geared up to administer a million Covid-19 vaccines daily and 300 million every year. Shobana Kamineni, the group’s executive vice-chairperson, has said the group invested Rs 200 crore over the years to set up cold-chain and other infrastructure to make vaccines available across the country. Her estimate is 1.3 billion doses need to be given in India, of which 300 million can be given by Apollo alone. Nearly 10,000 Apollo employees will be stationed at their centres to administer vaccines. – Business Standard