Karnataka is on course to vaccinate all adults against Covid-19 by end of November: Sudhakar

'We have set a target to administer five lakh doses every day, which means about 1.5-2 crore doses per month,' the state health minister said

Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar has had his hands full since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Now, with an expected third wave in October-November, the minister spoke to DH’s Suraksha P on his plans for the state in terms of vaccination, oxygen-readiness of private hospitals, Covaxin production and leveraging CSR funds for public healthcare systems. Excerpts:

The Centre has set a target of vaccinating India’s adult population by December 31. Karnataka has advanced this by a month to November 30. How doable is this?

We received more than 1.1 crore doses of vaccine in August and we have again received more than 33 lakh doses in the first 10 days of September. As a result, the supply has significantly increased. We have set a target to administer five lakh doses every day, which means about 1.5-2 crore doses per month.

We have already crossed 4.71 crore doses cumulatively as on September 9. On Monday, I held a detailed review with Deputy Commissioners and Zilla Panchayat CEOs. As many as 23 districts are lagging behind in targets. All of them have been instructed to achieve 100% first dose coverage by the end of this month. I am confident that by November, the entire adult population in the state will be jabbed.

What is the status of Covaxin production at the Malur plant in the Kolar district?

There were some hiccups initially in the Bengaluru plant of Bharat Biotech, which delayed the production of Covaxin. The test batches of that plant weren’t satisfactory and got rejected, which led to a delay in ramping up production. But now, the batches have been approved by the competent authority and will be available for public consumption. The company will be able to ramp up almost 7-10 crore doses of its Covid vaccine in the coming weeks.

In June, the Health Commissioner directed all private hospitals in the state to install oxygen plants in their premises within four months. The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) calls this unviable. Will there be action against private hospitals that do not comply with the directive?

As per the Centre’s mandate, hospitals with more than 100 beds should have the capacity to produce at least two times their oxygen requirement. Hospitals with 50 to 99 beds should meet at least their normal requirement. However, PHANA has raised concerns that the huge investment in the oxygen plant may be left underutilised as the demand is expected to be one-fifth during non-Covid times. They have demanded that the state government withdraw the circular. Since it is the Centre’s mandate, they may pursue it with the Centre through the Indian Medical Association or any other platform.

Paid vaccination for construction workers came under heavy criticism by labour unions. Will the state now recall its Rs 15.6 crore order for two lakh doses from private hospitals?

Since we have a sufficient supply of vaccines and we have already included construction workers in the priority group, the state will provide vaccines to all construction workers free of cost. In BBMP limits, we have already identified and prepared a list of construction workers through the CREDAI database. We are also conducting special camps at construction sites.

How will the state use private quota vaccines without attracting criticism? For example, in September, PHANA said the state’s private sector has a quota of 15 lakh doses but demand for paid vaccination from the public is negligible.

About two weeks ago, I met the representatives of pharma, medical devices manufacturing and other healthcare-related industries and urged them to explore the possibility of leveraging CSR funds for vaccination drives. If that is feasible, the private sector can purchase and donate vaccines to the state government for free distribution.

Geetanjali Kirloskar was appointed as the head of the state CSR panel. How much CSR funds are now flowing into public healthcare?

The main objective behind her appointment was to mobilise CSR funds of corporates to build primary health centres (PHCs) in Karnataka, with the government. The team has been getting the required support from the corporates. To begin with, they focused on Covid relief measures, procurement and distribution of oxygen and ventilators. The team coordinated with the government to get the support of JSW at Ballari to renovate the PHCs in that region and oversaw the completion of a 1,000-bed Covid Care Centre (CCC) in the district.

Is there any effort by the state to procure Sputnik V from Dr Reddy’s? The gap between doses is 21 days and its uptake was seen to be faster among the public...

There is no such proposal with the state government as of now.