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Odisha Again Raises Vax Quota

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government once again on Saturday urged Centre to allocate Covid-19 vaccines to the State at a ratio of 95:5 for Government and private hospitals instead of 75:25 fixed as per Central guidelines.

This time, Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das has written a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on the demand as the procurement by private hospitals in Odisha is very negligible. On June 14, Additional Chief Secretary, Health & FW Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra had wrote to his counterpart at Union Health Ministry, in this regard.

As per the revised Central guidelines that come into effect from June 21 across the country, 25 percent of monthly production of vaccines by domestic manufacturers will be procured by the private hospitals. However, till date, only seven private hospitals in Odisha have been able to procure vaccine from the manufacturers, Das said in his letter.

In Odisha, the presence of private hospitals is very low and limited to only about 5 percent of the total healthcare sector in the State. Hence, the State Government has apprehended that, as per the existing guideline, Odisha will loose out its proportionate share of 25 percent allocation of vaccines to the private sectors, he said.

Therefore, the Health Minister urged Vardhan to revise the allocation of vaccine to Odisha at a ratio from 75:25 to 95:5 keeping in mind the ground reality. And, the share of the private sector may be handed over to the State Government, he further demanded.

Stating the State Government is committed to provide COVID vaccination to people of Odisha, Das said, “Since June 21, 2021, we are able to vaccinate more than 3 lakhs beneficiaries per day and will continue our endeavour to achieve 100 percent vaccination in the State.”