Accusing Congress governmentof profiteering by selling Covid vaccine to private hospitals, Union MinisterHardeep Singh Puri on Friday said that additional 41 oxygen plants for Punjabhave been sanctioned under PM-Cares.
He also claimed that Punjabwas given more Remdesivir than Assam and Uttar Pradesh by the Union government.
Addressing a pressconference at the BJP national headquarters here, Puri pointed out that thePrime Minister has done many things for Punjab in true spirit of cooperativefederalism.
"Forty-one oxygenplants have been sanctioned for Punjab under PM-Cares in addition to 13sanctioned earlier," Puri said.
Reacting to allegations ofthe opposition ruled state of not getting fair share in centrally procuredmedicine or vaccine, Puri said: "An analysis of three states of which twohaving almost similar population shows that Punjab has been allocated morenumber of Remdesivir per thousand population than Assam and UttarPradesh."
Puri explained that having asimilar population Assam got 323 Remdesivir per thousand population whilePunjab received 623 Remdesivir. Uttar Pradesh received 264 Remdesivirinjections per thousand population.
He listed a series of worksdone by the Modi government for Punjab and said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modipersonally and his government are doing a lot for all the states includingPunjab."
On profiteering fromvaccine, Puri said, "Punjab government had said that they had procured4.29 lakh doses of Covishield at Rs 13.25 crore, which on average costs Rs 309per 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 hospitalsat a profit of Rs 750 per dose."
Puri claimed that there isno consensus among Congress leaders on profiteering by selling vaccines toprivate hospitals. "Congress leaders are not on the same page. Some ofthem think profiteering on centrally supplied medicines is legitimate. TheHealth Minister of Punjab government abstained himself from all responsibilityof this scam," Puri said.