Boosters for all: Pvt hospitals in a bind over new pricing, old vax stocks

It was a bright Sunday morning. Ashok Desai (name changed), a chartered accountant by profession, was having an argument with the receptionist at Dr Meena’s Multispeciality Hospital — a small 22-bed nursing home in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. Desai and his wife — in their late 50s — had come for their precautionary ‘booster’ to the vaccination centre. Armed with the day’s newspaper, he angrily asked the receptionist why the hospital had not factored in the price revision when it had clearly made headlines.

The receptionist looked helpless. “I have been facing questions since this morning. But we have bought stocks at Rs 1,200 for Covaxin and Rs 600 for Covishield. Until Saturday evening, CoWin was displaying the old price. The system now shows the revised price. How can we liquidate our old stock at this reduced rate?” she asked.

Many waiting in the queue left the venue displeased until owner Dr Subhash Bhatia stepped in, announcing the hospital would bear the losses and offer the vaccines at Rs 386 for anyone who walked in for a booster on Sunday.

Bhatia told Business Standard that vaccine makers had promised to compensate for this price differential by offering additional doses. “However, the minimum order volume is for 500 vials. I will not place such an order; there is hardly any demand. Since January I have vaccinated less than 500 people with precautionary shots since everyone opted for free vaccination at government centres,” he said.

His hospital has less than 30 vials of both Covaxin and Covishield. He said he would stop ordering vaccines after liquidating the old stock. “There are just too many policy flip-flops. It’s impossible for small players to stay abreast,” he rued.

While the number of hospitals administering booster doses remained low on Day 1 of booster doses for the entire adult population, the number of beneficiaries opting for the jab was also fewer – but still higher, compared to the past five Sundays

Moreover, some private hospitals were in a bind over pricing. They said the new rates were much lower than the price they paid to vaccine manufacturing companies and, therefore, would wait for clarity on pricing before beginning the booster process.

Major hospital chains like Fortis Healthcare stayed away from vaccinations on Sunday. “We welcome the expansion of precautionary doses to the younger age group and expect an increase in footfall in the days to come. We have not received any communication from the authorities or the vaccine makers on the process for receiving and administering precautionary doses to 18-plus, or on the new cost. The vaccine stock we are currently holding was purchased at the previously approved government prices. We will resume vaccinations as soon as we receive clarifications, hopefully by Monday,” the hospital said in a statement.

Similarly, in Ahmedabad, Apollo Hospitals and HCG Hospitals did not kick-start their vaccination drive on Sunday.

AMRI Hospitals in Kolkata has decided to start from Monday.

In Tamil Nadu (TN), at least five hospitals Business Standard got in touch with said they were in wait-and-watch mode due to low demand. Some said they may start administering booster shots from Monday.

Some hospitals that did vaccinate on Sunday, however, chose to charge the old rates.

Karnataka Health Commissioner Randeep D told Business Standard that the state government is waiting for written instructions from the Centre before formally asking private hospitals to bring down prices.

Alok Roy, chairman of eastern India’s Medica Group of Hospitals, said, “According to discussions with health department officials, the old stocks (300,000 doses of Covishield and 4,000 doses of Covaxin) will be administered at the old rates. We are informing the beneficiary that we are charging according to the price at which we had procured in the past from the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.”

The total number of precautionary doses administered by Medica in Kolkata on Sunday was 141.

Private hospitals in Kolkata had a meeting with the state health department on Saturday, which saw hospitals highlighting the issue of existing inventory and pricing.

Some Kolkata hospitals have decided to go with the new pricing from Monday on the basis of discussions.

Rupak Barua, group chief executive officer (CEO), AMRI Hospitals, said AMRI would charge Rs 380 per dose. He said the existing stock of vials of both Covaxin and Covishield would be compensated with additional stock at the new price of Rs 225. AMRI has around 8,000 vials, of which 6,500 are of Covaxin and 1,500 of Covishield, with an expiration deadline of May.

Gujarat hospitals, too, awaited clarity on pricing — from vaccine companies and the government.

“There is already a huge stock of vaccines at the older price. We need some clarity on whether we can continue to vaccinate at the older prices. We are asking people to come on Monday,” said a vaccinator at HCG Hospitals.

“Also, there is a ‘no-return’ policy by the government on doses. This makes it imperative for hospitals to exhaust the current inventory before sourcing fresh ones,” said Dr Prashant Deshmukh, chief operating officer, CIMS Hospital, in Ahmedabad.

At Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, the walk-ins and registrations have been so low that the private hospital has been scheduling only one day per week for vaccinations.

The lower price, however, may lead to greater footfall, they surmised.

“The reduction in prices, as well as the large size of the eligible segment, could drive demand. While we have already received some enquiries from corporates, as well as housing associations, the public response will become clearer over the next week or two,” said Dilip Jose, managing director and CEO, Manipal Hospitals.

The start to prevention doses, however, was sluggish across the country. Being a Sunday and coinciding with the Ram Navami festival, footfall was sparse at Covid vaccination centres in Uttar Pradesh.

In TN, the government took the lead. It inaugurated the vaccination camp in private hospitals at Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre (MMHRC).

“If the government stops their camps, interest will rise at private hospitals. We are looking to get some basic stocks. If we get more interest, we will get some additional stocks and for that we are in talks with the Department of Public Health,” said J Adel, general manager-operations, MMHRC.

With inputs from Virendra Singh Rawat
 

Vax makers promise more doses to compensate price difference

A day after slashing prices of the precaution dose of Covishield to Rs 225 per dose (excluding taxes) for private hospitals, Serum Institute of India (SII) on Sunday said it will compensate the price difference for the unexpired stocks lying with private centres in the form of 'cost free' doses.  Both SII and Bharat Biotech have said that the reduced price of Rs 225 per dose is effective from April 10. In a tweet, SII said the due process would be informed to all private hospitals soon. SII also said it has adequate stocks to meet the demand in India. BS Reporter