Under fire from the opposition and the Centre on the charge of profiteering amid a pandemic, the Punjab government withdrew on Friday its order on selling Centre-allocated Covid-19 vaccines to private hospitals.
The CM Amarinder Singh-led government has been at the receiving end for diverting vaccine doses allocated by the central government to private hospitals in the state and earning a profit. The government is said to have sold doses of Covaxin, procured for Rs 400, to private health facilities for Rs 1,060. The private hospitals further charged Rs 1,560 from people.
According to government, about 42,000 doses were allotted to the private hospitals. Of these, it claimed, only 600 doses were administered to people in the age group of 18-44. The government has directed private hospitals to return all vaccine doses available with them, while the doses which they have utilised are to be returned back once they get direct supplies from manufacturers.
The government will refund the amount deposited by the private hospitals in the vaccine fund. Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said instruction of providing one-time limited vaccine doses to private hospitals has been withdrawn on the direction of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
News Source : TOI
