After being exposed by Modi govt, Congress govt in Punjab admits folly of selling vaccines to private hospitals

After facing widespread flak for crisis-profiteering amidst a human catastrophe, the Punjab government on Friday (June 4) withdrew its decision to sell one-time limited Covid vaccine doses to 18-44 age group population to private hospitals. A brief letter – signed by Vikas Garg, the state-in-charge for COVID-19 vaccination – said the order “has not been taken in the right spirit and is hereby withdrawn”.

“The order of providing one time limited vaccine doses to 18-44 years age group population through private hospitals has not been taken in the right spirit and is hereby withdrawn. Further, it has been decided that the private hospitals should return forthwith all the vaccine doses available with them.” said the Punjab government in its official circular whilst adding, “The doses which they have utilised as of date should also be returned back, once they get direct supplies from the manufacturers. The amount deposited by the private hospitals in the Vaccine Fund shall be refunded to them.”

Few hours before the Punjab Congress announced its decision, the centre had written to the state, asking it to “send clarification to MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) immediately”.

Reported by TFI, the Congress government of Punjab, led by Captain Amarinder Singh has sold Covaxin vaccine doses to at least 20 different private hospitals at an exorbitant rate of ₹ 1,060 per dose. These vaccines were provided to hospitals from the state quota, which means the Congress government in Punjab would have paid Bharat Biotech ₹ 400 per dose.

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These vaccines, procured by the Punjab government directly from the manufacturer and thereafter sold to private hospitals at an astronomical rate have brought forward the vaccine scam out of the state. By selling Covaxin doses to private hospitals at ₹ 1,060 per dose, while itself paying only ₹ 400 to Bharat Biotech, the Punjab government ran a brazen profit of ₹ 660 per dose. The private hospitals, meanwhile, profited ₹ 400 per dose, as Covaxin was being sold in such hospitals at ₹ 1,560 per dose.

“This amounts to a cost of ₹ 6,000 to ₹ 9,000 per family (average) for a single dose,” remarked Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. The opposition leader also claimed that in Mohali 35,000 doses were sold for “a profit” of nearly ₹ 2 crores in a day.

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At a time when CM Amarinder Singh is fighting a desperate battle for survival inside his party as new enemy factions continue to emerge, the news of profiteering from Covid vaccines certainly isn’t going to sit right with his party opponents. The rollback on the decision is only going to dent his image further as his administration’s failure in the face of the second wave of the pandemic stands naked-exposed.