52 lakh Covishield doses lying with Maharashtra private hospitals: Data

PUNE: A health department report has revealed there are nearly 52 lakh Covishield doses lying in the reserves of private hospitals across the state, a quantity that has sparked concerns about wastage due to imminent expiry dates and low turnouts for paid jabs.

TOI on February 3 had reported concerns from the Indian Medical Association which said a big chunk of an estimated 50 lakh Covishield doses, lying with private hospitals nationwide, could go to waste unless there is an intervention. The health ministry refuted IMA's claim. But the state report has now shown that Maharashtra's private hospitals alone have 52 lakh doses lying with them.

Private hospitals have now been told to send data on doses with imminent expiry dates (February-end or early March) to avoid wastage. The report said private hospitals in Pune have the most doses in reserves - 19.96 lakh doses, followed by Mumbai (17.95 lakh doses).

An official from the state health department, who had shared 'balance stock' data with TOI on the condition of anonymity, said, "As per Centre's eVIN portal, 52,16,024 Covishield doses are currently lying with private centres in Maharashtra. We do not know how many of these doses are facing imminent expiry." eVIN, or the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network, allows real-time stock monitoring.

The official said, "It is unlikely that private hospitals will procure new stock because free shots at government units have cut turnouts for paid ones. It's most likely old stock that's lying with the state's private hospitals because three months ago, they had the same number showing in the 'balance stock' category." Dr Sanjay Patil, chairman of the IMA's Hospital Board of India said, "It is our initial estimate that about 50 lakh doses are lying unused at private vaccination centres nationwide. A sizeable chunk of these doses have February-end or early March expiry dates."

Dr Girdhar Gyani, director-general of the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) said, "I had met with health ministry officials last November, when private centres, as per our estimates at the time, were sitting on 10 million unused doses," he said.