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Union health minister orders 25% increase in Punjab vaccine supplies
The CM had sought supply of 55 lakh doses of Covid vaccine on priority for the state. Mandaviya assured the CM of all help and said supplies would ease from next month and he will fulfil the state’s requirement by October 31
On the request of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for more vaccine supplies in view of the forthcoming festival season and 26 lakh people overdue for second Covishield shot, Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday ordered immediate increase in Punjab’s allocation by 25%.
The CM had sought supply of 55 lakh doses of Covid vaccine on priority for the state. Mandaviya assured the CM of all help and said supplies would ease from next month and he will fulfil the state’s requirement by October 31. He ordered the department to immediately increase Punjab’s allocation to meet its urgent requirement.
The CM said with sufficient supplies, the state government could arrange to vaccinate 5-7 lakh people daily. He pointed out that allocation of vaccine for Punjab for August stood at only 20,47,060 doses of Covishield, while around 26 lakh doses of this were required just for those whose second dose was overdue.
Citing the data, the CM said Punjab has relatively less allocation of vaccines (and hence very low per capita vaccination) as compared to the other states, and it needs to be increases to cover more population and catch up with the others.
As of August 7, Haryana’s per capita vaccination stands at 35.2, Delhi’s 39.4, J&K’s 43.7, Himachal’s 62 and Rajasthan’s 35.1, as against 27.1 in Punjab. The CM said that Punjab has till August 7 received only 1,00,73,821 doses, as against Haryana (1,27,94,804), Delhi (1,06,79,728), J&K (66,90,063), Himachal Pradesh (55,51,177) and Rajasthan (34,954,868).
Amarinder also sought access for the state to the CoWIN portal for analytical purposes.
CM pushes for bulk drug park
Amarinder also urged Mandaviya to consider Punjab’s request for setting up a bulk drug park at Bathinda in response to the department of pharmaceuticals, ministry of chemical and fertilizers.
The state government had applied in October 2020 to set up the park over 1,320 acres in Bathinda, with the council of ministers approving attractive incentives for the same, he said, adding that all conditions of the Union ministry had been met.
During the meeting with the Union minister, who holds additional portfolio of chemicals and fertilizers, the CM also reiterated Punjab government’s demand for enhanced allocation of DAP stocks to Punjab, as per the revised demand by the state. Suppliers should be directed to ensure that adequate supplies are given as per schedule, he told the minister, reiterating the points he had raised on Tuesday in this regard during his meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah.
