Banna slams Centre for ‘inadequate’ vax supply to state

Ranchi: The state health minister, Banna Gupta, on Monday lambasted the Union government for its “indifferent attitude towards Jharkhand in allocating vaccines”. Gupta said, “It is because of this step-motherly attitude of the Centre that the state decided to procure vaccines from overseas and has floated global tenders in this regard, which are yet to be approved.”
He further said, “As per our state government’s commitment we had placed an order for 50 lakh vials (for the 18-44 age group) with the manufacturers but we were provided with only 5 lakh since the Modi government is controlling the supply.”
As per government data, out of the nearly 2 crore beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group, only 5,20,283 have taken their first dose since the inoculation drive began on May 14 for that age group. There are only 1,35,020 doses left for that group and over seven lakh for the above 45 group.
On Monday, several session sites in Dhanbad remained closed for sixth day in a row due to the shortage of vaccines and a senior health department official said that they cannot resume the drive for the 18-44 age group unless they receive a fresh consignment of vaccines.
Asked why Jharkhand is not getting its share of the vaccines, Gupta said, “The Modi government seems to be following the saying ‘maal maharaj ka mirza khele holi’, which roughly translates to we place orders for vaccines but they divert it to other locations, including overseas. If this is the Centre’s attitude, one can understand what Modi is trying to do.” He added, “We were told that India has become the hub of vaccine production, then why aren’t we being provided what we have ordered. It is because they want people of Jharkhand to suffer and I will not allow that and we will do everything possible to get things moving.”
According to health department sources, the formalities for inviting global tenders have already been completed and the process will be initiated once the state cabinet gives its approval for the procurement. On being asked whether the cabinet is going to meet over the issue as it is an emergency situation and a matter of public health, Gupta said, “I have already given my recommendation for approving the proposal. We have kept everything ready and if required, we can go ahead with the whole process even without the approval, provided the green signal is given by the cabinet eventually. I will make sure that nothing stalls our commitment to provide free vaccines to the youngsters.”