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Vaccine drive priority groups: Decision on private health workers tomorrow

04 Feb 2021

  • Response to demand for equal priority 

  • Govt. to decide after finishing public health workers

  The Government will take a decision on whether to include private healthcare workers as a priority sector in its national vaccination drive, following the conclusion of the inoculation of government healthcare workers today (4).  "We are definitely prioritising frontline private healthcare workers. We will finish vaccinating government healthcare workers tomorrow (4) and we will assess the available number of doses and consider how to vaccinate them," Ministry of Primary Healthcare, Epidemics, and Covid Disease Control Secretary Dr. Amal Harsha De Silva told The Morning yesterday (3). He was responding to our query on whether private healthcare workers would be afforded the same priority given to government healthcare workers, following an appeal by the former to include them in the first category of vaccine recipients. In an appeal to the Government yesterday, the Association of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes (APHNH) requested that private healthcare workers receive priority, alongside national healthcare workers, in the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive.  The Association noted that private healthcare workers are not listed under the Government's vaccine prioritisation policy yet, and urged authorities to reconsider this, as the private healthcare sector has played a vital role in Sri Lanka's pandemic response. It claimed that by handling over 50% of out-patient care in the country, the sector ensured that patients continued to receive timely access to treatment, while the country’s public health resources were devoted towards reducing the spread and risk of the virus.  "Private healthcare workers are frontline heroes too and stand the risk of exposure to the virus, just as much as national healthcare heroes. Our healthcare workers are an integral part of our pandemic response, and the Government must prioritise them in the current vaccination drive. The Association and the Private Health Services Regulatory Council (PHSRC) are equipped with the information and databases needed to vaccinate private healthcare workers. Over the past few months, our member hospitals and frontline healthcare workers have made a significant contribution to the country's Covid-19 prevention and care efforts. We have collectively increased PCR testing capacities and have set up intermediate care facilities to ease the burden of Covid-19 care from the Government. This is why our staff need to be given priority for vaccination, alongside national healthcare workers," APHNH President Dr. Lakith Peiris said.   Furthermore, while making this request, APHNH also announced that the private healthcare sector is prepared to assist the Government in Covid-19 vaccine administration throughout the country. As of 1 February 2021, The Epidemiology Unit of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Health reported that more than 100,000 people in the country had been vaccinated under the Covid-19 immunisation programme.  Established in 1972, the APHNH represents all the country’s private hospitals and nursing homes.


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