Punjab was given more Remdesivir than Assam, UP: Union Minister

Addressing a press conference at the BJP national headquarters, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri accused Congress government of profiteering by selling Covid vaccine to private hospitals and said that additional 41 oxygen plants for Punjab have been sanctioned under PM-Cares.

New Delhi:Accusing Congress government of profiteering by selling Covid vaccine to private hospitals, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said that additional 41 oxygen plants for Punjab have been sanctioned under PM-Cares. He also claimed that Punjab was given more Remdesivir than Assam and Uttar Pradesh by the Union government.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP national headquarters here, Puri pointed out that the Prime Minister has done many things for Punjab in true spirit of cooperative federalism. "Forty-one oxygen plants have been sanctioned for Punjab under PM-Cares in addition to 13 sanctioned earlier," Puri said.

Reacting to allegations of the opposition ruled state of not getting fair share in centrally procured medicine or vaccine, Puri said: "An analysis of three states of which two having almost similar population shows that Punjab has been allocated more number of Remdesivir per thousand population than Assam and Uttar Pradesh."

Read:Punjab govt making profit by selling vax at higher rate: Hardeep Puri

Puri explained that having a similar population Assam got 323 Remdesivir per thousand population while Punjab received 623 Remdesivir. Uttar Pradesh received 264 Remdesivir injections per thousand population.

He listed a series of works done by the Modi government for Punjab and said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally and his government are doing a lot for all the states including Punjab."

On profiteering from vaccine, Puri said, "Punjab government had said that they had procured 4.29 lakh doses of Covishield at Rs 13.25 crore, which on average costs Rs 309 per dose. They had also procured 1,14,190 doses of Covaxin at Rs 4.7 crore, which on average costs Rs 412 per dose. They sold vaccines to private hospitals at a profit of Rs 750 per dose."

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Puri claimed that there is no consensus among Congress leaders on profiteering by selling vaccines to private hospitals. "Congress leaders are not on the same page. Some of them think profiteering on centrally supplied medicines is legitimate. The Health Minister of Punjab government abstained himself from all responsibility of this scam," Puri said.

IANS