-Union Health Minister tells Manmohan Singh
Former Prime Minister of India and senior Indian National Congress member Manmohan Singh wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday and suggested several ways to tackle this pandemic.
Taking a look at his letter and suggestions, Union Health Minister Dr.Harsh Vardhan replied to him on Monday, and pointed out that there are some factual inaccuracies in the letter Dr.Singh had sent to the PM, and also conveyed to him that those who had drafted him this letter or advised him had done him a great disservice.
What Manmohan Singh’s letter conveyed?
In his letter, the former PM conveyed that the firm number of the orders placed with the vaccine producers for the next 6 months should be disclosed to the public. He also underlined that enough orders should be placed to vaccinate the expected target number.
Dr.Singh said that for the States in India to roll out the vaccine properly, the Central government should share how are they going to distribute the vaccines across the State.
He also pointed that the State Governments should be given the power to decide who their frontline workers will be, even if they are below 45 years and not from only the healthcare and sanitation sector.
He suggested that the Central government should quickly allocate funds and provide concessions to vaccine producers, and also underlined that any vaccine for Covid-19 that is approved by European Medical Agency or USFDA should be allowed to be imported in India without insisting on domestic bridging trials, as the need for vaccines is high here.
He also conveyed that the patients should be intimated that the vaccines are being allowed in India based on the approval given by the foreign agencies.
Dr.Harsh Vardhan’s reply:
“We take your suggestions at face value and with the belief that they are made keeping national interest in mind. However it does seem that those who drafted your letter or advised you, have done a great disservice to your standing by misleading you regarding material that is already in public domain”, Dr.Vardhan wrote in his reply to Manmohan Singh.
Dr.Vardhan pointed out that Dr.Singh’s suggested on April 18 about allowing the import of vaccines that have already been approved by credible foreign authorities but the Indian Government had already taken a decision on this matter on April 11, 2021.
He also showed that Dr.Singh’s suggestion to provide funds and other concessions to augment vaccine manufacturing also comes a lot delayed, as the Central Government had also decided to provide additional funding to vaccine manufacturers. “Multiple vaccine manufacturing entities have been funded by the government to immediately enhance production”, Dr.Vardhan wrote in his reply letter.
“Despite such inaccuracies, we understand your deep concern for the country”, he added.