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'This is their culture': Puri slams Congress-led govts for Covid vaccine corruption, wastage
One dose of Covishield Covid-19 vaccine, which costs ₹309, has been sold at ₹1,560 through private hospitals, Hardeep Singh Puri said.
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday fired a salvo at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for questioning the Centre's Covid-19 Vaccine Maitri policy, as he called out states led by the opposition party for wasting shots or profiteering off it.
"Rahul Gandhi ji asks where is the vaccine for our children. That vaccine is in the garbage in Rajasthan and profits are being made on that vaccine in Punjab. This is the culture of Congress,” Puri said during a press conference.
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Citing the data of Covid-19 vaccination in Punjab, made public by an officer of the government in that state on May 29, Puri said the figures reveal that the dispensation is profiteering by overcharging for the vaccines. One dose of Covishield vaccine, which costs ₹309, has been sold at ₹1,560 through private hospitals, Puri said.
"These people are giving a dose of Covishield which they bought for ₹309 to a private hospital for ₹1,000 and as per yesterday's data they are selling it for ₹1,560," the Union minister said.
He further cited the disclosed data by saying, that 429,000 doses of Covishield were procured at ₹13.25 crore its average amount is ₹309 and 114,190 Covaxin doses were procured at ₹4.70 crore, its average amount is ₹412.
"The Centre has distributed 50 per cent of vaccines to states and UTs to administer doses to people free of cost. States are profiteering on their own procurement. If these figures are true then the real amount of profit is not just ₹2.40 crore," Puri said.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday made the same allegations against the Punjab government, saying that the state government distributed the vaccine procured under the state quota to 20 private hospitals for ₹1,000.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati also said that it is 'indecent, inhuman, condemnable and very unfortunate' that the Punjab government was indulging in corrupt activities during a health emergency.
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This comes after Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal accused the Amarinder Singh government of diverting vaccine doses to private hospitals for profit.
After the backlash, the state health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Friday said that he has ordered a probe into the allegations imposed by the opposition regarding the vaccines.
Post this, the state government in new order withdrew the “one-time” instruction to private hospitals for vaccinating people in the age bracket of 18-44 years and instructed the hospitals to return all the vaccine doses available with them.
