Bengal says vax must be given to states for free
The West Bengal government on Friday told the Supreme Court that there should be a uniform vaccination policy and the new differential pricing mechanism in the latest phase of inoculations must be scrapped, according to media reports.
It said the Centre must take immediate steps to ensure vaccines are made available and given to states free of cost.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking increased supply of medical oxygen for Covid-19 treatment.
Banerjee also said that the Centre hiked oxygen allocation for other states out of the total production in Bengal, despite its enhanced requirement.
The chief minister said daily consumption of oxygen in her state has gone up to 470 MT in the last 24 hours and is expected to increase to 550 MT per day in about a week.
"I would request you to kindly have the allocation of medical oxygen reviewed and instructions issued for an immediate allocation of at least 550 MT per day of MO," she said in the letter to Modi.
Any allocation less than the requested amount will not
only adversely affect the supply, but may also result in loss of lives of patients in the state, Banerjee said.
“The government of India has increased allocation of MO to other states, from the total production in West Bengal, during the last 10 days from 230 MT to 360 MT, keeping allocation for us constant at 308 MT per day despite its requirement of 550 MT," the CM aaded.
After taking oath on Wednesday, the chief minister had said: "Our first priority is to control the Covid situation."
Banerjee hald a meeting on the pandemic situation at state secretariat Nabanna soon after leaving Raj Bhavan.