Apollo Hospitals on Thursday said that the company has the ability to administer a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine per day if the need arises. “The group will leverage its robust pan India web of 19 medicine supply hubs with cold chain facilities and use it’s 70 hospitals, 400+ clinics, 500 corporate health centres, 4000 pharmacies alongside their omni-channel digital platform Apollo 24/7 to ensure massive administration capacity of COVID-19 vaccines,” a press release said.
It added that roughly 30% of India is around 30 minutes away from an Apollo pharmacy, which can then guarantee safe and widespread reach of the vaccine. The group is training over 10,000 employees who will eventually be stationed at the Apollo centres to administer the vaccine.
“As the largest and most trusted integrated healthcare network in the country, we believe that it is our duty and responsibility to actively participate in the nation’s fight against COVID-19 and make India safe and healthy. Till date we have tested over 2,50,000 and have treated over 75,000 patients. Going forward it will be our privilege to work with all governments, governmental agencies and healthcare networks to ensure that a large number of people get the vaccine, quickly and safely as it becomes available,” said Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice-Chairperson of the Apollo Group of Hospitals.
The group has also said that technology will play a significant role in ensuring that all citizens have access to the vaccine, and that Apollo 24/7 will have a dedicated platform with developments related to COVID-19 vaccine. People will also be able to register themselves at Apollo 24/7, which will generate a unique number for each user to enable interoperability with the National Digital Health Mission Programme. Users can use this platform to keep themselves updated regarding the latest information about the vaccine.