Chidambaram plays down Punjab govt's '1-2%' vaccine profiteering; 'they've corrected now'

As the alleged vaccine profiteering in Congress-led Punjab Government amid the devastating COVID-19 crisis sent shockwaves across the political spectrum, former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram confessed that the Punjab Government shouldn't have sold the vaccines to private hospitals at increased prices. While the decision has now been rolled back, Chidambaram also defended the Punjab Government saying they have rectified their mistake. Also attempting a face-saver, Chidambaram guesstimated an unconfirmed figure saying that the proportion of vaccines sold by the Punjab Government to private hospitals was "maybe 1-2%".

Punjab Govt withdraws order after backlash

After facing the backlash from opposition parties, the Punjab Government withdrew the order of providing one-time limited vaccine doses to 18-44 years age group population through private hospitals and has directed the hospitals to return all the vaccine doses available with them. Punjab Health Minister BS Sidhu denied having any knowledge of the alleged sale of vaccines to private hospitals in Punjab. Steering clear of the controversy, he maintained that he only looked after treatment, testing, sampling of COVID-19 & vaccination camps and that he 'had no control over vaccine sale'. He assured an enquiry into the issue. 

COVID-19 vaccines sold for 3 times the cost to people in Punjab

Covaxin doses procured by the Punjab Government at Rs 420 per dose were being sold to multiple private hospitals for Rs.1060 per dose. The Akali Dal supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal accused the Punjab government of selling vaccines to private hospitals for a premium, who further charged people Rs 1560/dose. Badal claimed that vaccines were being diverted to private players at hefty margins to create an artificial scarcity of vaccines. 

The vaccines were procured directly by the state government for people aged between 18 and 44 having co-morbidities, for construction workers and families of healthcare workers in government vaccination centres, however, the private hospitals were reportedly administering the doses to all adults at Rs.1560 each. The vaccines sold to private hospitals were a part of the 1.14 lakh Covaxin doses which Punjab received on May 27.

Congress' politics over vaccines

Even as the nation continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress leaders including Wayanad MP and former party President Rahul Gandhi continue to target the Centre amid the crisis. Even after PM Narendra Modi on Monday announced centralised procurement of COVID vaccines and allocation to state governments free of cost, Rahul Gandhi found something to target the Prime Minister.

PM Modi said the Centre will procure 75% of vaccine production and pass it on to states for free, while the remaining 25% can be sold by the vaccine manufacturers directly to private hospitals. PM Modi also said the private hospitals would administer the vaccines with a service charge not more than Rs 150, in turn capping the price and allowing the state governments to monitor the same. This categorically means, the vaccination process will be free for all the citizens at the government vaccination centres from June 21, whereas it will be chargeable at private hospitals with the vaccine cost plus the service charge of not more than Rs 150.

However, in an attempt to politicize the issue, Rahul Gandhi questioned why are private hospitals being allowed to charge for the vaccines. Rahul Gandhi questioning the Centre comes even after the Congress Government was caught profiteering from vaccine sale to private hospitals, although the order has been withdrawn.

Also, incidents have been reported in Rajasthan where hundreds of unutilised vaccine vials were found dumped in the trash bin outside COVID-19 hospital, according to reports. The incident raises alarm as every single vaccine dose is critical for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Republic Media Network investigated the incident last week and found that unused vaccine vials were indeed dumped in cartons with used vials in Jaipur. However, the Rajasthan Congress leadership remains in denial while contending that Rajasthan has registered minimal vaccine wastage.