COIMBATORE: In a big push to expedite the inoculation drive, Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said that private hospitals would be encouraged to administer vaccines free using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of corporate and private players.
Addressing media persons, the minister claimed that private hospitals were not fully utilising the 25 per cent of total vaccines manufactured in India that has been earmarked for them by the Central government. “Private and corporate firms have been donating oxygen concentrators, generators, oxygen cylinders to hospitals. Now that the demand has been met, the firms could tie up with private hospitals for free vaccination camps,” Subramanian said.
Earlier, Subramaniam chaired a meeting with representatives of 117 private hospitals from Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, and Salem. The hospitals jointly donated Rs 61.45 lakhs from their CSR fund and the money would be spent on procuring vaccines. “The money will be handled by the district collectors, who would allocate vaccine doses to private hospitals based on requirements,” the minister saud.
Further, the minister said that private hospitals would be told to display a board informing public about the total CSR fund contributed by corporate firms and how many beneficiaries could they inoculate using that amount.
Earlier, the minister visited Walayar checkpost and took stock of screening of vehicles entering the State from Kerala in the wake of Zika virus outbreak there. The minister informed that the Health department had deployed about 21,000 domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) and 14,833 vehicles across the State to monitor and prevent breeding sites of mosquitoes in residential areas.