State Government has requested the Centre to cut down on the quota of Covid-19 vaccines for private players from 25 per cent to only 5 per cent in Jharkhand, citing poor penetration of private healthcare facilities in rural areas and a high Below Poverty Line (BPL) population with limited purchasing capacity as some of the reasons for the request, health officials said on Tuesday.
In a letter addressed to the Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Rajesh Bhushan, Jharkhand’s additional chief secretary Arun Kumar Singh stated that private hospitals were unable to utilize the 25 per cent quota of vaccines fixed for them and the Government will be in a better position to use the vaccines to achieve its immunisation targets if the quota of free vaccines provided to the state is increased to 95 per cent for Jharkhand and private players are provided the remaining 5 per cent to purchase from.
“At least 95 per cent vaccines for the state of Jharkhand should be allocated from the government route to enable equitable distribution of vaccines. This would also ensure adherence to the constitutional mandate of equity, equality and reasonable opportunity for all citizens,” the letter stated.
In its letter to the Centre, the Jharkhand government has stated that around 37 per cent of the 3.29 crore population in the tribal state was BPL, while 13 districts were tribal districts and 19 districts were affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE). Besides, more than 75 per cent of the state’s population lived in the rural areas. These factors, according to the state government, made it difficult for private hospitals to utilize the 25 per cent share of vaccines given to them.
Before making this request to the Centre, health officials in the state met representatives of private hospitals on June 16 to see the response they have received during the ongoing vaccination programme. Most of the private players did not show interest in purchasing Covid vaccines. Only three private hospitals have purchased Covid-19 vaccines in the state so far and found it challenging to utilize the doses, officials said. As per details shared by the health department, private hospitals have not even administered 2 per cent of the total jabs used in the state so far.
“Only three private hospitals showed interest in purchasing the vaccines and their requirement too was not anywhere close to 5 per cent of the total doses we get from the Centre,” said Dr. Siddharth Tripathi, the nodal officer of health department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) wing.
The NDA-led Centre started providing free vaccines for all citizens above the age of 18 years from June 21 this year to the states, but reserved 25 per cent of the total vaccine doses for purchase by private hospitals. As per the price set by the government, a Covishield dose in a private hospital is administered for Rs.780, while beneficiaries have to pay Rs.1410 for a single jab of Covaxin.
According to officials spearheading the immunisation programme in Jharkhand, a majority of the rural population or the people living in urban slums cannot afford vaccination in private setups – one of the reasons for the poor vaccination rate in private healthcare facilities across the state.
