Some private hospitals have put on hold their outreach Covid vaccination camps scheduled at least for Monday following an order from the health department that such camps need to have approvals from the chief municipal health officer and the local police station.
The requirement of the approvals was part of the standard operating procedure (SOP) on off-site vaccination, issued by the health department on Saturday.
According to the new SOP, the outreach vaccination camps — workplace camps as well as the ones conducted by organisations and clubs —must “obtain clearance from local police station” and “display approval letter” from the chief municipal health officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC).
In districts, the approval has to be obtained from the chief medical officer of health.
The SOP follows the arrest of Debanjan Deb, who had allegedly posed as an IAS officer and a joint commissioner of the CMC and organised a series of “Covid vaccination” camps without the mandatory approval of the state health department.
Police suspect that at least some of the recipients at Deb’s camps were administered an antibiotic. “We have kept on hold outreach vaccination camps that were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. The camps were to be held at workplaces for employees and in housing complexes,” said R. Venkatesh, the regional director of Narayana Health, whose flagship unit in the city is the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS).
“We held one free outreach vaccination camp for the underprivileged on Sunday. It was held at our hospital (RTIICS) with permission from the government.” AMRI Hospitals, too, have put on hold all outreach camps till all necessary documents are obtained.
“No off-site vaccination camps will be held tomorrow. We are in the process of informing all partners with whom such camps have been planned that these stand postponed till further instructions from the state government,” said an official of AMRI.
Charnock Hospital will take a decision after attending a meeting with the state government on Monday morning.
Ipsita Kundu, the CEO of the hospital, said that based on discussions at the meeting, the hospital will take a decision whether to go ahead with outreach camps on Monday or postpone them.
A senior official of the state government told Metro on Sunday evening that since the SOP mentioned the requirement of additional documents to run an outreach vaccination camp, private hospitals would have to keep such camps on hold at least for Monday.
“The SOP was issued on Saturday and Sunday was a holiday. It would not be possible for private hospitals to obtain the documents mentioned in the SOP by Monday morning. So hospitals have to keep on hold outreach camps scheduled for Monday and also possibly Tuesday. Hopefully, they will get the necessary documents by Tuesday,” said the official, who is part of the team managing the Covid vaccination programme in the city.
Saturday’s SOP also mentioned that the outreach camps must also display the charges for vaccination and the CoWIN-authenticated code number. Officials managing Covid vaccination sites said all such sites were given a unique number when they registered on the portal.
Such steps will help prospective recipients tell a genuine vaccination camp from a fake one.
A few hospitals, however, will go ahead with their outreach vaccination programme on Monday.
Woodlands Hospital will keep copies of a letter of approval from the state government at their outreach camps.
“No new camp will start on Monday but the existing ones will continue to run. Any recipient can ask for and go through the letter of approval. New camps start only after we get all necessary permissions mandated by the SOP,” said Rupali Basu, the managing director of Woodlands Hospital.
As for the vaccination on the hospital premises, there is no change in rules.
