Corporate hospitals cornering bulk of vaccines in Bengaluru?

Bengaluru: It seems only corporate hospitals in the city are getting the lion's share of vaccines being manufactured by pharmaceutical companies while mid-sized hospitals are left behind.

Though the government has been apprised of the situation by 30-40 bed hospitals, nothing positive has come out of it.

Dr Jagadish Hiremath, CEO, Ace Suhas Hospital, on Friday said that the pharma companies were selling the vaccines only to big hospitals with money to pay for the supplies at one shot. "The mid-sized hospitals are not being given vaccine doses even after repeated communication made through different channels. There is a flaw in the distribution system and the government needs to take stock of this situation," he added.

Located at Jigani, the hospital is close to the industrial pocket of Bengaluru and could serve as the vaccination centre for thousands of factory workers who are mandated to work physically in the units. He claimed that the industries have been approaching him for vaccination.

Hiremath added, "We started the vaccination drive for a few thousands when the government initially gave vaccines to all hospitals on a daily basis. We were given Covid Vaccination Centre (CVC) number recognised by the Government of India. The district office was coordinating this with a district vaccination manager who used to give us vaccines every day."

"What happened after that was an unfortunate series of events. We have been approaching the vaccine manufacturers and there has been no reply at all. We have requested 15,000 doses of Covishield in one group and around 3,000 doses of Covaxin. None of them responded to us. We have been sending emails and other communications right from the month of April and there has been no response at all," he added.

Further elaborating his point, Hiremath stated, "In these times, how are corporates who are sitting at home and working getting vaccinated from corporate and big hospitals and whereas why am I not getting vaccines to vaccinate these vulnerable groups of people and their families?" he added.