The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday, 8 June, capped charges for private hospitals administering COVID-19 vaccines. Thus, Covishield has been capped at Rs 780, Covaxin at Rs 1,410, and Sputnik V at Rs 1,145.
The maximum service charge per dose for each of these jabs remains at Rs 150, and is included in the charges fixed by the Centre for administering of jabs by private hospitals.
A memorandum issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, further, reads:
“It is informed the Co-WIN is putting the required validations in place to ensure that the prices declared by various private COVID Vaccination Centres (CVC)s do not exceed the maximum price indicated above.”
Earlier, on Monday, 7 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the nation, announced centralisation of the COVID-19 vaccine drive and said that all vaccines will be procured by the Centre and given to the states for free.
PM Modi further said that private hospitals can still buy 25 percent of the doses directly from the manufacturers and the ones who wish to get them can pay for them. However, the private hospitals can only charge Rs 150 as a service charge on vaccines, he had said.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)