Termingthe new vaccination policy for 18+ age group as unfair to the states, PunjabChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday sought Centre-State parity invaccination for 18+ age group from May 1, while calling for urgent steps toensure adequate Oxygen supply.
Whilehis government has adopted all measures to minimize demand for oxygen, giventhe criticality of it as the most essential drug for treatment of serious Covidpatients, the Govrnment of India must ensure that all commitments as per theallocation are complied with by liquid oxygen manufacturers in other States, hedemanded, adding that “this is not happening at present. Punjab’s supplies comefrom Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and there are reports ofsupplies being ‘hijacked’, he said at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s virtualconference to discuss the Covid situation with chief ministers of the worst hitstates.
Onthe vaccination front, the Chief Minister said at the rates declared by onemanufacturer, the cost to the Punjab government will be over Rs 1000 crore. Hesought central government funding for vaccination, with permission to make thecost a fit charge on SDRF funds in the interim.
Regularvaccine supply must be ensured to maintain the supply chain to the lastvaccination booth, he further said, adding that due to supply shortage, thevaccination in last one week has been slightly low, i.e. around 75-80,000 daily.While Punjab received fresh supplies yesterday the current stocks can last only3 days as demand for vaccine is increasing, he stressed.
CaptainAmarinder also expressed concern over lack of clarity on the quantity ofvaccine to be made available by Centre after May 1, and how the manufacturerswill regulate supplies to different States and private purchasers. The stategovernment, on its part, has constituted an Expert Group under virologist Dr.Gagandeep Kang to advise on our vaccination strategy for 18-45 years, whichStates have been allowed to vaccinate at their cost, he disclosed.
TheChief Minister also pointed to the shortage and blackmarketing of medicineslikeRemdesivir and Toci, which he said wascreating great panic in the media and general public. Though the CentralGovernment was making efforts to increase their supply, a clearer messaging wasrequired to inform the public that they are not magic wands, and also aboutavailable substitutes, he stressed. Pointing to the shortage of anti-viralRemdesivir Injections and zero availability of Toci injections in the state, hesaid hospitals were, however, following treatment protocol for criticalpatients and using alternate medicines.
Citingthe increase in the number of cases to around 5000 per day, with 10% positivityin the last one week, from around 3000/day with 8% positivity during the lastVC on April 8, the Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to direct centralinstitutions like AIIMS Bathinda, PGI Satellite Centres and Military Hospitalsin Punjab to provide additional Covid beds. Pre-fab structures on offer by CSIRcould be used for this purpose, he said, pointing to the grave situation in thestate, with a case fatality rate of 1.4%.
Expressingconcern over the fact that Punjab had not received any fresh results on viralgenome sequency in the last almost a month, when the last results showed over85% UK strain, Captain Amarinder urged the Prime Minister to order escalationof efforts to understand the mutations, and their implications for properpolicy response. He also urged theGovernment of India to build a consensus on Covid appropriate behaviour tocheck the spread of the virus.
Assuringthe Prime Minister of all-out efforts by his government to combat the Covidspread, the Chief Minister said his government had launched a series ofcontainment measures with stringent enforcement. He listed some of the measuresin place in the state, and added that micro containment zones are beingincreased with special monitoring teams.
Treatmentof Covid patients had been scaled up, and all hospitals had been asked toreserve 75% beds for Covid and to postpone all elective surgeries till May 15.Bed occupancy is 29-30% in Level-2 and 42% in Level-3, he said, adding that thestate was getting patients from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Haryana and Delhi –possibly relatives of local persons.
OnTesting and Contact Tracing, he informed the meeting that from 35-40,000 testsevery day on April 8, testing had gone up to 55-60,000 tests a day, with Punjab’stesting per million significantly higher than national average. Contact Tracinghas increased to 17.5 and we are working to take it to over 20, he informed thePrime Minister.