Union minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur has lambasted Punjab government of making “profits” by selling the vaccines procured under the State quota to private hospitals at higher rates.
Thakur, attacking the Punjab government said, “The Centre buys vaccines from manufacturers and sells them to the states at ₹400 per dose, but the Punjab government is selling those vaccines to private hospitals at ₹1,060 for which those hospitals are collecting ₹1,560 from the public”.
He slammed both Punjab and Rajasthan governments for indulging in black marketing of covid vaccines accusing the chief ministers of these two states, “the favourites of the Gandhi family, behind the”corruption”.”
According to reports, the Congress government in Punjab is accused of making a profit of Rs.660 per dose in the name of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by selling 40,000 doses, procured at Rs 420 per dose, to over 20 private hospitals for Rs 1,060 per dose.
On top of it, the private hospital is making a profit of Rs.500 per shot as the customer pays Rs.1,560 for each jab.
Punjab received 1.14 lakh Covaxin doses on May 27.
“The vaccine doses which are to be given free are now translating into ₹3,120. This is Congress’s favourite one-two-ka-four policy,” the minister tweeted further.
He went on to say, “Punjab Government is hand in glove with private hospitals. They are creating a false narrative about vaccines scarcity and ensuring lack of proper vaccination facilities at government hospitals. Why should a single dose of the vaccine cost Rs 1,560 at a private hospital? Punjab government profits while the poor pay this pandemic premium on vaccines.”
Not only Punjab, Thakur trained his gun on Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan, alleging that it has wasted 11.50 lakh vaccine doses. “Now, thousand of vaccine doses are found in garbage dumps. Doing this, the Congress has actually thrown public’s trust into the garbage,” the minister said.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, also went full throttle against the Capt Amarinder Singh’s Congress government in Punjab.
.@RahulGandhi who has demanded free vaccines for all should tell what he has to say to a common man forced to pay Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 for a single vaccine dose for his family. He should tell if he supports Punjab govt decision to force ppl to get vaccine doses for Rs 1560. 3/4 pic.twitter.com/XTCzajRhyU
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) June 3, 2021
Meanwhile, the Punjab government justified that they charged high prices from private hospitals by saying if they had purchased it from the manufacture directly then also they would pay that price. However, it must be noted that the price for Covaxin for the private hospital is Rs.1,200 but they got it at a lesser rate and still selling at high prices.
