Sisodia slams Centre over export of vaccines

‘It is heinous crime to export Covid vaccines when people are dying in our own country’: Delhi Dy CM

New Delhi, May 9: Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, on Sunday, attacked the Centre over the export of coronavirus vaccines, saying a large number of lives could have been saved in India if the doses were given to people in the country first.

“It’s a heinous crime committed by the Central government. It sold vaccines to other countries only for its image management at a time when people are dying in our own country,” he told at an online briefing.

Citing a newspaper report, Mr Sisodia said the Centre sold coronavirus vaccines to 93 countries, of which 60 per cent had Covid-19 under control and also where there was no threat of loss of life due to the virus.

A large number of youths in the country perished due to coronavirus in the second wave of the pandemic, he said, adding that their lives could have been saved if the vaccines were given to them instead of exporting the doses.

He said the Centre should now ensure that the vaccines manufactured in the country are provided to the states that are facing a shortage.

He reiterated that the Delhi government can vaccinate everyone in the city within three months if adequate doses are made available to it.

Mr Sisodia has ordered an inquiry into the incident of 23 Covid-19 patients going “missing” from the North Delhi Municipal Corporationrun Hindu Rao Hospital, official sources said on Sunday. He asked the health department to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit a report by Monday evening, they said.

The corporation’s mayor, Jai Prakash, had, on Saturday, said that at least 23 Covid-19 patients left the hospital between April 19 and May 6 without informing the medical facility.

Mr Sisodia said it is very shocking that a large number of Covid-19 patients have gone “missing” from the hospital.

The deputy chief minister also said that this is not only dangerous to the lives of those patients but is also a setback to the efforts of the government, which has imposed a lockdown to check the spread of the disease, they said.

Hindu Rao, run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, is the largest civic hospital in the national capital.

The hospital has 250 beds reserved for coronavirus patients and according to the Delhi Corona app, all beds are currently occupied.

— PTI A relative mourns the death of family member due to Covid-19 at LNJP Hospital in New Delhi on Sunday. (left) Family members carry a Covid-19 victim at Seemapuri cremation ground in New Delhi on Sunday.