By Dr. Girdhar Gyani,
The ongoing pandemic has had a substantial effect on the national economy and livelihoods of wealthy and poor alike. With the vaccination drive rolled out across the length and breadth of the nation, it is a duty of big private sector stakeholders that they must contribute in meeting the challenge of immunising Indians so as to mitigate the burden off the government shoulders for it to much better concentrate on the poor, the underprivileged and these at danger.
Public-private partnership model
The early stages of the pandemic saw the Government struggling to make the ends meet with quick provide of public overall health infrastructure. However, with the entry of the private sector, the nation witnessed a scale up in the testing approach and availability of crucial care beds in private sector, major to much better handling and containment of the pandemic in the later months.
Likewise, if provided a possibility, the private sector has the possible to play a game-altering part in the COVID-19 immunisation programme. For this to take place, it is essential to integrate the private sector into a National AntiCOVID Mission platform and the approach has to start NOW.
Road ahead
India began vaccination on 16th January 2021 and was very first to attain 7-lakh in 26- days. But thereafter we have been averaging at 2.5 lakh vaccines per day as against USA which is averaging more than 12-lakhs per days. India rightly decided to use government facilities for vaccination for the duration of the pilot phase in vaccinating healthcare workers and front-line employees. Now that pilot phase is more than, it is time to speedy track the vaccination drive, more so when some states are displaying rise in infection and new strains are surfacing. We can certainly include things like private sector hospitals as vaccination centres. India has 3000+ private hospitals with one hundred+ bed capacity, which will have requisite infrastructure and can vaccinate among one hundred-500 persons per day. Similarly, there are about 25000 hospitals with bed size among 30-one hundred. At least 50% of these can be identified as vaccine delivery centres. These hospitals along with present government facilities will be in a position to enhance the vaccination drive.
While we utilise private sector infrastructure to provide vaccination as per government scheme, there is chance to jack up vaccination via open marketplace. Government may well let vaccine to be procured by designated large private hospitals and provide to institutional clientele at regulated price. For instance, PSUs may well make a decision to vaccinate their personnel at price. Similarly, corporate corporations, educational institutes, banks and so on. may well like to do the very same. This will allow large enhance to vaccinate and also minimize on the financial burden on the government
Association of Healthcare Providers (India) has created a coaching system for vaccinators, by which thousands of healthcare workers can be educated via hybrid model (partly on-line and partly via hands-on). India can quickly provide 2-million vaccines per day and figuring out that India is the vaccine capital of the planet, it would be logical to attain this mark.
To sum up, we have excellent chance and necessity to vaccinate our vast population, more so when planet more than there is fresh surge in infection. The government can use the services of overall health workers in the private sector for the vaccination drive and speed up the complete approach ideal from the stage exactly where vaccine is procured to the time it is delivered. Millions could be vaccinated in this manner with extraordinary speed and in turn, guard each lives and livelihoods.
(The author is Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers (India). Views expressed are private and do not reflect the official position or policy of the TheSpuzz Online.)