New Delhi : State and UT governments are now given authority to identify more and more private hospitals which can be included in the vaccination drive by the health ministry. As vaccination gathered pace on March 2, the second day of 2nd phase vaccination, senior citizens and people above 45 with co-morbidities are being inoculated.
Initially, only those hospitals were allowed to vaccinate people at a cost of ₹250 per dose who are empanelled under Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Central Government Health Scheme and State Health Insurance Schemes. The ministry released a state-wise list of all these hospitals.
The Centre said states/UTs can proactively make efforts to use these private hospitals as vaccination centres if private hospitals have an adequate number of vaccinators, adequate space for observation of the vaccinated, adequate cold chain management and adequate arrangement for the management of any adverse effect.
To make the advance appointment booking easy, private hospitals have also been asked to open vaccination slots for 15 days to a month. In the first two days, private hospitals were allowing advanced booking for only a day or two.
