Vaccine outreach for private doctors - Practitioners not attached to hospital are being sent forms for Covid jab registration

The vaccination programme will cover all doctors, irrespective of whether they are associated with a hospital/nursing home or not: Representational picture by Shutterstock

Subhajoy Roy   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |   04.01.21  : The state health department is trying to reach out to the doctors who are not attached to any hospital or other healthcare institute so they are not left out of the Covid-19 vaccination, senior officials said.

Earlier, the department sent messages to doctors attached to private and government hospitals and other healthcare facilities to enrol for the Covid-19 vaccination. But there are many doctors who practice in private clinics in their localities and are not attached to any hospital or nursing home.

A senior official of the department said they wanted all these doctors to be vaccinated, too.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation has been asked to send copies of a form to all private doctors in the city. The doctors have to fill in the form and send a scanned copy of it to the email ID mentioned in the document.

Other municipal corporations and municipalities have been asked to do the same in their areas.

The chief medical officers of health (CMOH) of all districts have been told to identify private practitioners and ensure they get registered for the vaccination.

“The vaccination programme will cover all doctors, irrespective of whether they are associated with a hospital/nursing home or not. We are also reaching out to all private practitioners to see to it that their names are registered for the vaccination. The CMOHs in the districts are working towards ensuring that all private practitioners are registered for the vaccination. The CMC, too, has been asked to do the needful,” said Narayan Swaroop Nigam, the secretary of the Bengal health department.

The CMC is delivering a printed sheet with 24 columns at chambers of private practitioners in Calcutta. “The practitioners have to fill in the columns and send a scanned copy to kolpmu.nuhm@gmail.com,” said a CMC official.

All the names will be sent to the Centre so they get registered with the Covid-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-Win) application, which has been built for the vaccination drive across the country.

“Practitioners of homoeopathy and other AYUSH streams can also apply for the vaccination,” Nigam said.

“We all know that there are general practitioners who have never been associated with any hospital but who treat a large number of patients. These doctors, too, are at risk of contracting the coronavirus while treating patients. They must be vaccinated along with other doctors,” the official said. 

Pinaki Mitra, a private practitioner in Garia, told Metro that he had been informed about the registration by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and had sent all relevant details. “I had to fill in a form and submit it. I had to mention my name, address, registration number and other details in the form,” said Mitra, who is a member of the IMA’s Tollygunge branch.

But there could be many doctors who are not members of any doctors’ association, which is why the health department has launched the drive to reach out to all private practitioners.

Registering for Covid-19 vaccines is necessary as only those who have their names registered will get a vaccine.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Operational Guidelines, published by the Union ministry of health and updated on December 28, mentioned that “only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated as per the prioritisation, and there will be no provision for the on-the-spot registrations”.

According to the guidelines, nearly 1 crore health-care workers, 2 crore frontline workers and about 26 crore people aged above 50 years on January1, 2021, will be vaccinated in the first phase across India.

Anirban Dalui, the assistant treasurer of IMA’s Bengal chapter, said the association was using all possible means to disseminate information about vaccination among private practitioners.

“We are sending messages on all doctors’ groups, disseminating the information through associations of specialist doctors like the Association of Physicians of India or the Indian Pediatrics Association,” he said.