Goa: 8 hospitals identified for vaccinating 18000 health staff

The Goa government has identifiedeight hospitals for the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination inthe coastal state where around 18,000 health care workers willreceive the doses, an official said on Sunday.

As many as 100 vaccinations would be done at each ofthese eight facilities in a day, which amounts to 800inoculations per day, state immunisation officer Dr RajendraBorkar told PTI.

''The state government has identified five government-run hospitals and three private facilities where vaccine wouldbe administered to health care workers,'' he said.

The short-listed government hospitals are - GoaMedical College (near Panaji), Hospicio Hospital (Margao),Asilo Hospital (Mapusa), Chicalim Health Centre (Vasco), SubDistrict Hospital (Ponda).

The private facilities identified for the task are -Manipal Hospital (near Panaji), Healthway Hospital (Old Goa)and Victor Hospital (Margao), he said.

The state task force for immunisation headed by healthsecretary Amit Satija has also identified 18,000-odd healthworkers who will receive doses during the first phase, theofficial said.

The central government on Saturday said India willlaunch its COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16, withpriority to be given to nearly three crore health care andfrontline workers.

Borkar said along with the rest of country, Goa willalso roll out its vaccination programme on January 16.

All the health care workers who will be given thevaccine would be monitored for side-effects, Borkar said.

The task force has called for a review meeting onMonday with nodal officers and representatives of the eighthospitals to discuss the immunisation provess, he said.

Goa has already conducted two dry runs to assess itspreparedness for the vaccination drive.

On Saturday, Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 81and reached 51,790, while the death toll rose to 746 with twomore people succumbing to the infection.

So far, 50,177 people have recovered from COVID-19,leaving the state with 867 active cases, as per officialfigures.