Aheadof vaccination for those aged above 18 beginning next month, Health Ministersof Congress-ruled states on Sunday accused the Central government of"doing politics".
Addressinga joint press conference, Health Ministers T.S. Singh Deo (Chhattisgarh), RaghuSharma (Rajasthan), Banna Gupta (Jharkhand) and Balbir Singh Sidhu (Punjab)said that there should be uniformity of vaccine prices and also drugs andoxygen should be alloted as per number of cases.
"TheUnion government is doing politics... Vaccination can be done if vaccines areavailable but if there is no vaccines, then how it will be done. We have thevaccination sites ready and can complete the vaccination in 30-40 days,"Singh Deo said.
Sharmasaid that when they contacted the Serum Institute, the maker of Covishield,"we were told by them that it may take them till May 15 to fulfill ordersplaced by Government of India, and they will not be able to deliver vaccines toRajasthan before it".
SinghDeo also said that with the vision to make government hospitals oxygenindependent, the Chhattisgarh government, over the past year, has installed 25new PSA oxygen generating plants placed in the hospital premises.
"Theseplants have a cumulative production of 2,57,96,000 litres/3,685 Jumbo cylindersequivalent of oxygen per day. These plants can provided uninterrupted oxygen to601 ICU beds 24x7. 16 of the 21 plants implemented by the state government areoperational today whereas of the four plants that were given by the Centre inNovember, only one is operational and three are yet to see construction begin.
"Chhattisgarhis also installing 9 new cryogenic oxygen (liquid oxygen) tanks in itsgovernment hospitals. These plants have a installed capacity of 106 KL and arecapable of suppling uninterrupted oxygen to 717 ICU beds round the clock. Overthe past year, 15 industries have been permitted to produce medical gradeoxygen in Chhattisgarh. They have a cumulative capacity of 73 MT/day of medicaloxygen, which is mainly used to refill oxygen cylinders," he added.