Chandigarh: After going through extreme backlash for allegedly promoting Covaxin doses to non-public hospitals at over and above the costs they had been procured from the Centre, the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Punjab authorities no Friday withdrew its earlier order of offering one time-limited vaccine doses to 18-44 years age group inhabitants via personal hospitals.
A short letter – signed by Vikas Garg, the state-in-charge for COVID-19 vaccination – Â mentioned that the order “has not been taken in the right spirit and is hereby withdrawn”. It directed personal hospitals to return all vaccine doses out there with them. The doses which they’ve utilised as of date also needs to be returned, as soon as they get provides from the producers, the discover mentioned. The cash deposited by the hospitals within the Vaccine Fund will likely be refunded, the order added.Â
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Earlier at the moment, Punjab’s Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu ordered a probe into the Oppositions’ allegations that the state authorities has been diverting Covid vaccines to non-public hospitals.
Without going into the specifics of the allegations, he mentioned he’ll first anticipate all the image to emerge. “The vaccine programme is not concerned with my Health Department and is under the control of Chief Secretary and Vikas Garg, who is the state’s nodal officer for the vaccination drive,” Sidhu mentioned.Â
SAD Alleges ‘Vaccien Scam’
His response was on the outset of allegations posed by Punjab’s opposition social gathering SAD which accused the state’s Congress authorities of diverting Covid vaccines to non-public hospitals at hefty margins. Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, in a press release on Thursday alleged that vaccine doses weren’t out there within the state however they had been being bought to non-public establishments.Â
In a collection of Tweets, SAD chief claimed {that a} Covaxin dose costing Rs 400 to the state was being bought to non-public establishments at Rs 1,060. He additional alleged that the personal hospitals are additional charging individuals Rs 1,560 for every dose. This quantities to a price of Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 per household for a single dose. The authorities was additionally punishing individuals by forcing them to cough up Rs 1,560 per dose throughout a time of financial slowdown, Sukhbir Badal added.Â
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BJP Takes Swipe At Congress Over Internal Fight In Punjab
Reacting to the continued controversy, BJP leaders Prakash Javadekar and Anurag Thakur slammed the Punjab authorities and requested whether or not the Congress social gathering in Punjab was dedicated to battle the COVID-19 pandemic within the state.
Javadekar mentioned Punjab is badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no such thing as a correct administration of inoculation drive within the state. The state authorities can also be not paying enough consideration to testing and different measures that must be taken to comprise the unfold, he alleged.
