The state health department on Monday officially told private hospitals that they would have to procure Covid vaccines from the manufacturers from May.

The state government now supplies vaccine doses to private hospitals. The arrangement will end on April 30.

Private hospitals now pay Rs 150 a vial. Each vial contains 10 doses.

From May 1, the private hospitals have to shell out more.

The Serum Institute of India, which manufactures Covishield, has announced that private hospitals have to pay Rs 600 for each dose. Bharat Biotech, which produces Covaxin, has priced its vaccine at Rs 1,200 a dose for private hospitals.

“We have officially come to know that private hospitals have to buy their own stock of vaccine vials. While the government has assured us of help in contacting the manufacturers, we have asked for more clarity on some issues. The state government will get back to us in a couple of days,” said Rupak Barua, the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals and the president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India.

“We are not sure whether we will get a minimum number of doses as we have to buy directly from the manufacturers,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

“We are not taking any bookings for vaccination for May because we are not sure about the supply. What is more worrying is how we will vaccinate those whose second dose is due from May. We do not want to fail on our commitment to administer the second dose but we are not sure about the supply,” said Mitra.

The Centre has announced that anyone above 18 will be eligible to be vaccinated against Covid from May 1. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that vaccination of people above 18 will begin on May 5 in Bengal.