No COVID-19 vaccine to pvt hospitals if rules flouted:Goa govt

The Goa health department haswarned of discontinuing the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to theprivate hospitals which are found to be inoculating people whoare not healthcare workers.

Besides various state-run facilities, around half-a-dozen private hospitals in Goa have also been empanelled toadminister the COVID-19 vaccine to their healthcare workersand IMA members, since the drive began on January 16.

State immunisation officer Dr Rajendra Borkar, in arelease issued here late Sunday evening, said complaints havebeen received that some private hospitals have indulged invaccinating those who are not healthcare workers and alsothose who are not registered on the Co-WIN portal.

''This has been viewed seriously by the stategovernment and the Government of India. The health departmentwill be forced to stop providing the vaccines to suchhospitals and institutions and the whole programme of COVID-19vaccination may get disturbed,'' the official said.

The Co-WIN app has been created by the Centre formanaging registration for the inoculation.

Borkar said the issue would be raised with all privatehospitals and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to ensurethere is no deviation from the Centre's guidelines.

State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane last week said hehas ordered an inquiry into the allegation of a Margao-basedhospital giving vaccine shots to people who are not healthcareworkers.

Till Sunday, Goa reported a total of 53,409 COVID-19cases and 768 deaths due to the disease, as per officialfigures.