New Delhi: NATHEALTH-Healthcare Federation of India, an apex body representing the ecosystem of the private healthcare sector, has submitted a set of recommendations to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and NITI Aayog on the urgent need to scale up the vaccination drive by including private diagnostics labs and home care providers in the inoculation process.
The recommendations also include setting up vaccination centres in RWAs, malls, schools, airports, and large corporations with space and staff facilities. These steps will not only accelerate vaccination numbers at the community level but will also play a pivotal role to stem rising cases of COVID-19 in India, effectively scaling up numbers and expanding coverage in a short span of time.
In the representation to the Health Ministry, NATHEALTH has suggested involving other healthcare providers with the skilled medical workforce to ramp up to the vaccination drive. Some of the key suggestions submitted along with the rationale to the Government are:
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Involving certified, private diagnostic organizations- this can increase coverage and ensure that the general public has quick access to vaccination, especially those in the high-risk category. Large private labs already have a ready network of labs spread across India in Tier 1, 2 and semi-urban areas, along with an established cold-chain network supported by an army of trained workforce.
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Phlebotomists at accredited laboratory chains are well-trained to proficiently inoculate the population with utmost compliance under the supervision of MBBS doctors. As per the official guidelines, private labs can easily create dedicated sections for registration verification vaccination and observation, if given a chance to participate in the vaccine administration drive.
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Temporary vaccine centres can be set up in schools, malls, hotels/dormitories, airports, and large corporate houses can be createdto conduct the inoculation drive as per the SOPs and operational guidelines of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, which can facilitate vaccine storage, handling, administration and documentation. The entire process will be similar to that being followed at hospitals, including registration on CoWIN, utilization of only those nurses who have been specifically trained on COVID19 vaccination administration, infection control protocols and standards.
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Involving more private home healthcare industry players in order to reduce the cost of care for patients and the burden on the stretched hospitals system – Home healthcare industry has a huge potential in preventing the spread of the COVID infection in current times of surge.
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Creation of satellite, temporary off-site community vaccination clinics/centres managed by home healthcare providers -These centres outside of hospitals can be set up in community centres, malls, colleges, schools, stadiums, RWAs, offices of large corporations and others.
