The Opposition in Punjab has targeted the Amarinder Singh government over the reports of diversion of Covid vaccines meant for public hospitals to private facilities. The Government, however, has refuted the allegations and said a probe is on into the issue.

Punjab’s Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said in a statement on Friday that the probe has started. “After what I have learnt through media, I have already ordered for a probe and we will order a proper inquiry. We will keep the issue before the chief minister,” he said and added that he will first wait for the entire picture to emerge.

‘Selling for profit’

Former Deputy Chief Minister and leader of Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal accused that the Punjab government is selling vaccines to private hospitals for ₹1,060 a dose that they bought for ₹400. “They have issued a notification. The private hospitals are imposing their own costs and different people are paying different costs that range from ₹1,200 to ₹1,500. People in the rural areas are not getting the vaccine which should be administered free at the time of pandemic,” he added.

Sidhu said in his statement that his department has no role in the vaccine programme. “The vaccine programme is not concerned with my Health Department and is under the control of Chief Secretary and Vikas Garg, who is the State’s nodal officer for the vaccination drive,” Sidhu said and added: “As much as the supply of vaccines is made available to our department, we have been administering them free of cost in our hospitals and in the health camps which the department conducts.”

Badal had alleged on Thursday that the State government’s decision is costing ₹6,000 to ₹9,000 per family for a single dose. He had also alleged that in Mohali alone, 35,000 doses were sold to private institutions to “earn a profit” of nearly₹two crore in a single day.

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