Give vax to state first: Jagan
AP CM opposes vaccines for private hospitals
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure enough Covid-19 vaccine supplies to government hospitals to serve the needy. Only after meeting the needs of government hospitals can those of private hospitals be addressed, he stressed in a letter.
The Chief Minister strongly opposed supply of vaccines to private hospitals without fully ensuring surplus stocks at the government hospitals. This would only encourage excessive charging by the private hospitals, he expressed concern. Supplying vaccines to private hospitals would be a good idea if there is surplus availability but the situation is different and there is severe vaccine scarcity, he reminded the Prime Minister.
Thanking the PM for standing by the state government in its fight against the Covid-19, Jagan Mohan Reddy said the recent policy of Centre was enabling private hospitals to directly procure vaccines from the producers, through the channel of 50 per cent supply earmarked for ‘other than Government of India.’
The CM said the AP government had decided to vaccinate people in the 1844 age group also free of cost. “Due to insufficient availability of vaccines under both channels of supply, currently only those who are above 45 years of age are being vaccinated in our State as they are more vulnerable. The policy decision of the government of India in this regard to allow private hospitals to directly purchase vaccines is sending out wrong signals to the people.”
“Due to the price differential offered to them and also the flexibility available to the private hospitals to fix the price of their vaccines, these hospitals are charging as high as `2,000 for each dose from the public. This makes these doses one of the costliest in the world and invites criticism from the general public,” the CM wrote.
Stating that a vaccine is for a public good and ideally it needs to be given free of cost or at least at affordable rates, the Chief Minister said that in a situation where there is not enough supply to cater to even the 45+ age group completely, and no possibility of taking up the free vaccination of the 18-44 years for the next few months, it appears very unreasonable to allow some private sector hospitals to vaccinate people of all age groups at such exorbitant rates.
THE CHIEF Minister strongly opposed supply of vaccines to private hospitals without fully ensuring surplus stocks at the government hospitals, as it would only encourage excessive charging.