Mumbai: Civic chief I S Chahal has asked private hospitals to build up the COVID-19 vaccination drive by vaccinating 1,000 individuals each in a day by means of extended immunization hours from 9am to 9pm. 

Chahal stated that Mumbai should attain the target of 1 lakh inoculations a day. At present, public hospitals are carrying out 80% of the vaccinations.

The order came in a week which has seen the turnout decline. As the vaccination drive was started for senior citizens and those above 45 years of age on March 1, daily vaccinations increased steadily till Monday when numbers started declining. They decreased 12% by Thursday (39,644) compared to 44,683 on Monday.

On Friday, the numbers demonstrated a marginal increase to 42,740. While 30,298 senior citizens took the vaccine dose on Monday, the numbers came down to 21,422 on Friday. The number of vaccinations dropped in the state to 2 lakh on Thursday vs. 2.74 lakh on Wednesday.

According to additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani, there was a good response from middle- and upper-class citizens in the first two weeks. He stated that the inoculation drive needs to be taken to the slums now, adding that from Monday, there will be registration booths in Dharavi. Private hospitals have been directed to reach out to nearby housing societies making use of their own resources or through corporators and social organizations. Meanwhile, a civic official expressed concerns about vaccine stocks stating that the city had stocks to last only 3-4 days.

Chahal noted that civic hospitals were carrying out the majority of vaccinations while private hospitals were vaccinating just 4,000 individuals on some days. On Friday, 25 BMC centers inoculated 27,440 individuals, which was more than double of the 12,592 individuals vaccinated by 59 private hospitals. Chahal advocated 24/7 vaccination centers, adding that considering the lifestyle and office hours in Mumbai, more people can get their vaccination done if the timings were from 9 am to 9 pm.

Private hospitals stated that they intended to ramp up if the turnout increases. Joy Chakraborty, COO of Hinduja Hospital, stated that a majority of private hospitals inoculate about 300 people every day. He stated that they will have to either work 24/7 or add booths in order to inoculate 1,000 individuals, adding that both the options were being assessed. Dr Gautam Bhansali from Bombay Hospital stated that the number of individuals coming to private hospitals was not high.

Kakani stated that fresh stocks are expected to come on Monday. The city has vaccinated 8.1 lakh individuals thus far, which includes a lakh with both doses. (With inputs by Bhavika Jain)

Source: ET Healthworld