Agartala: Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman, who served as health minister in Tripura’s BJP+IPF government for about a year, has urged Chief Minister Manik Saha to conduct a high-level inquiry into the storage of a huge quantity of precautionary Covid19 vaccines doses slated to expire in the next few days.
In a letter Roy Barman requested Saha, who also holds the health portfolio, to find out why such a huge number of vaccines have been left unused. Roy Barman, who was removed as minister of erstwhile Chief Minister Biplab Deb’s cabinet in January 2019, stated, “I have learned from reliable sources that about 60,000 doses of precautionary vaccines kept in various medical stores of the state will expire in the first and second week of this month”.
“The Covid vaccine is one of the most valuable resources available now, but why has such a huge consignment of precautionary doses been kept unused;” Roy Barman said, demanding an impartial inquiry into the unused stock.
“According to the government guideline, ordinary citizens under the age of 60 years do not have access to the third dose of free vaccination made available in private hospitals against payment. In Tripura, the doses are not readily available privately, which frustrated the citizens. When a government has such a huge stockwhich is going to expire in the next few days, then why was it not made available for use,” Roy Barman asked.
He requested the CM that the third dose of vaccine should be given free to the common people under the age of 60 years in the government hospitals and said, “I came to know in several states of the country, the third dose of vaccine is being given free to the common people under the age of 60 yrs. Since we have a huge stock and expiry is knocking at the door, make sure people get it.”
