Myat Taw Win Hospital wins Vaccination Delivery of the Year for its pioneering centre

It was the first private COVID Vaccination Center in Myanmar’s Southern Shan State.

After the surge of the COVID-19 Delta variant plunged Myanmar into a humanitarian catastrophe amidst political crisis and conflict, the private hospital sector tapped in to contribute to the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Previously, the vaccination rollout was handled by the government of Myanmar. Upon identifying certain limitations, Myat Taw Win Hospital was officially approved to deliver vaccination services to the public.

The hospital instantly became one of the first private hospitals in Myanmar and the first private hospital in Shan State, to administer vaccinations against COVID-19.

Myat Taw Win Hospital took into consideration multiple factors: it chose the Sinovac vaccine as its main vaccine as it is allowed for ages 12 years and above versus other vaccines which only allow 18 years and above to be recipients in Myanmar.

Its facilities were top of their kind. The vaccination centre is composed of two registration counters, two vital sign counters, and two waiting rooms where at least 100 people can wait at the same time that is six feet apart with four vaccination rooms.

The challenge for this vaccination is the submission to the government and to be officially approved by the government. The submission procedure only started in June 2021, whilst the site inspection by government officials was set in August and September 2021.

Myat Taw Win Hospital officially started to vaccinate the public on the 20th of November 2021.

According to the VMIS, Myat Taw Win Hospital successfully delivered 5,537 doses of vaccines to the public from this date until the 1^st of January 2023.

By the end of January 2022, the vaccination number tallied at over 3,500 doses within 40 days of vaccination.

After January 2022, the government restarted the free of charges vaccination programme at public hospitals, schools, and public areas.  This resulted in the decline of vaccination rates in the private hospital sector. Despite this, Myat Taw Win Hospital provided the gapping tool of the government sector’s vaccination programme and increased the prevention against COVID-19.

According to the data from Shan State, Myat Taw Win Hospital vaccinated nearly 9.23% of the vaccinated population in Taunggyi.

For its efforts, the Myat Taw Win Hospital was given the Vaccination Delivery of the Year - Myanmar award in the recently concluded Healthcare Asia Awards.

This year, with its theme of Recognizing Trailblazing Initiatives in the Healthcare Sector, the awards programme aims to honour hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers that have risen above the challenges and made a remarkable impact on their patients, most especially amidst the massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In granting this award, the judging panel lauded the hospital for being the first private vaccination centre in Southern Shan State and for having significant vaccine coverage in Taunggyi. Lastly, it also took note that it recorded a 0% adverse drug reaction against all vaccine jets.