01-03-2021 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
ASIA
01-03-2021 to 15-03-2021
11
21% Indians to take Covid
vax at pvt HOSPITALS
Kapu reservation leaders
summoned for burning train
Amaravati : Kapu reservation movement leader Mudragada Padmanabham
and 41 others were served summons by the Railway Court for their alleged role
in the burning of a train five years ago in East Godavari district of Andhra
Pradesh. On January 31, 2016, a large meeting was convened at Tuni in East
Godavari district as part of the Kapu community's fight for reservation.
On that fateful day, Ratnachal Express was set on fire, allegedly by the agitators,
prompting the Railway Police to file cases on Padmanabham and 41 others
under Sections 146, 147, 153 and 174 under the relevant Railway rules.
All the accused persons are required to appear on March 3 in the Vijayawada
Railway Court. Along with Padmanabham, Manchala Sai Sudhakar Naidu is also
one of the summoned persons.
Padmanabam has been fighting for the cause of Kapu reservation dedicatedly
since a long time and had questioned former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam
Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu for not keeping his 2014 election
promise of providing reservation for the community.
New Delhi : As the next phase of the
Covid vaccination drive is slated to
commence in two days, 21 per cent of
Indians are likely to take their vaccines
on payment basis at private hospitals, a
survey has revealed. In the upcoming
round, citizens above 60 years of age,
and people above 45 years of age with
co-morbidities will be eligible for the
vaccination. Meanwhile, the cumulative
number of coronavirus vaccine doses
administered to healthcare and frontline
workers has crossed 1.42 crore in the
country.
The government has decided to allow
close to 24,000 private hospitals across
the country to start inoculation of
Covishield and Covaxin vaccines in the
next round of vaccination programme
come March 1. It is likely to be priced at
Rs 250 per dose. Government hospitals
will continue the vaccination at no cost
to citizens. Taking cognisance of recent
development of permitting private hospitals
to vaccinate senior citizens aged
over 60 and those with co-morbidities
aged over 45, 'LocalCircles' conducted a
survey to understand the percentage of
people that would prefer getting the
vaccine at a private hospital on payment
basis and what is the maximum price
citizens are willing to pay.
The survey, which received more
that 16,000 responses from people
located in 266 districts of India, showed
that 21 per cent Indians are likely to
take their vaccine on payment basis at a
private hospital.
The majority of 35 per cent of citizens
said they "will be taking the vaccine
at a government centre", while 21
per cent said they "will be taking it
through a private hospital". There were
also 27 per cent of citizens who said
they "will take it but are not sure how".
Further breaking down the poll, it
has been learnt that 5 per cent of citizens
"have already taken the vaccine",
while 6 per cent of citizens said "can't
say", and another 6 per cent said they
"do not have any member of the family
who meets the above criteria".
It is noteworthy that another 27 per
cent citizens plan to take the vaccine but
are currently unsure about whether they
will go to a private hospital or a government
centre. This indicates that if the
private hospital vaccination drive takes
off, many more could opt for it given a
better experience.
About 75 per cent of outpatient care
in India and 55 per cent of inpatient care
in India is provided by the private
healthcare sector. Though the vaccine at
a government centre will be free, there
is a general preference for private
healthcare in India.
The surveyor next tried to understand
the tentative perception as to how much
are people willing to pay for two doses
if any of their family members are eligible
for the vaccine in this next phase. In
response, 17 per cent said "up to Rs
200", 22 per cent said "up to Rs 300", 24
per cent said "up to Rs 600", 16 per cent
said "up to Rs 1,000", and 6 per cent
said "above Rs 1,000", while 15 per cent
couldn't say. The findings of the poll
suggests that 63 per cent of those planning
to take the COVID-19 vaccine in
the next phase at a private hospital will
not pay more than Rs 600 in total
charges for two doses.
This indicates that the government
must make all attempts to ensure that
the private hospitals get the vaccine at
the lowest cost possible so they can
deliver within this budget specified by
the majority of citizens.
On kanshi TV
channel 772.
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