By PTI
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Thursday said COVID-19 vaccination in the state is being affected due to the shortage of doses.
He said the state government had placed an order for about 3.75 crore doses with the Serum Institute of India (SII) but had only received 6.75 lakh in the first 12 days of the month.
Sharma said Rajasthan needs 20 lakh doses for immediate immunisation.
Vaccination of people in the 18-44 age group and those above 45 years is being affected due to the shortage of doses, he said.
About 2.09 crore people in the state are above 45 years.
Accordingly, more than 4 crore doses are required.
If there is 10 per cent vaccine wastage, then about 4.5 crore doses are needed for this age group, he said.
However, due to the erratic supply of vaccines, the health minister said, only 1.45 crore people across age groups have been inoculated in the state.
This number includes both first and second doses.
Sharma said Rajasthan has developed the capacity to administer up to seven lakh vaccines per day.
As a result, 80 per cent of the people above 60 years have been given the first dose and about 33 per cent have been given the second dose.
In the 45-60 age group, 64.4 per cent of the people have been given the first dose and 27.4 per cent have been given the second dose.
The Centre is fully responsible for the vaccination of people over 45 years.
However, the vaccine supply is not being expedited even for this age group, he alleged.
Sharma said there are more than 3 crore people in the 18-44 age group in the state.
Therefore, an order for about 3.75 crore doses has been placed with the SII.
In the first 12 days of May, only 6.5 lakh vaccine doses were received from the SII.
Due to this, the pace of vaccination is slow at most of the vaccination sites in the state, he said.
The health department has again spoken to the company officials for the delivery of more than 8 lakh doses but the situation is not clear so far, he added.
Sharma said that Bharat Biotech has also been approached by the government but it is also unable to supply vaccine doses.
The minister also expressed concern over the rising number of black fungus cases among COVID-19 patients recovering from the disease.
Sharma said the state government is cautious about it and instructions have been issued for the purchase of injections used for the treatment of the infection.
The black fungus infection, also known as mucormycosis, is caused by a fungus called mucor.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday demanded the Union Health Ministry thoroughly investigate the purchase of defective ventilators made available through the PM CARES Fund.
“The Centre had made 1,900 ventilators available to the state from the PM Cares Fund. It was responsible for the installation and maintenance of these ventilators. According to doctors, many of these ventilators have technical shortcomings due to which using them can prove to be dangerous for patients,” Gehlot said in a statement.
He further said, “The doctors said that there is a pressure drop problem in these ventilators. These ventilators shut down after working for 1-2 hours continuously. There is a problem of sudden decrease in PIO2, failure of oxygen sensor and compressor.”
He said Dr Lakhan Poswal, Principal of Medical College, Udaipur, had also raised the problem posed by these ventilators in the COVID review meeting held on April 5.
Apart from Rajasthan, different problems in these ventilators have also been reported in the media in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The Chief Minister said two letters were written by the Government of Rajasthan at the secretary level and one letter at the ministerial level to the Centre to make them aware of the problem of these ventilators and to get them fixed at the earliest.
He said that for the maintenance of all ventilators in Rajasthan, the company appointed by the Centre had informed they would send 11 members, but only 6 people are working here.
They went to fix ventilators on the complaint but due to lack of experience, they are unable to fix it and doctors are not satisfied, the CM lamented.
He said the Union Health Ministry should investigate how such poor ventilators were procured as these can threaten the lives of patients.
He also expressed concern over the occurrence of black fungus infection among recovered COVID-19 patients and said the Centre should take it seriously.
The black fungus infection, also known as mucormycosis, is caused by a fungus called mucor.
“It is very worrying to see cases of mucormycosis disease among patients who have recovered from coronavirus in various states of the country, including Rajasthan. It has been learnt that this disease is affecting diabetics who have recovered from coronavirus more,” Gehlot said in a series of tweets in Hindi.
“The Centre should take it seriously and conduct research to prevent it. Also, medicines and injections needed for the prevention and treatment of this disease such as amphotericin should be arranged so that there is no shortage,” he said.
Earlier this month, Niti Aayog member (health) V K Paul had ruled out an outbreak of COVID-triggered mucormycosis and said that the situation was being monitored.
In another tweet, Gehlot said instead of states, the Centre should have issued global tenders for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines amid a shortage in India.
“So far, 11 states have issued global tenders to purchase vaccines owing to the shortage of vaccines in the country. Due to this, states will get vaccines at different prices,” the chief minister said.
It would have been good if the Centre had issued global tenders and made vaccines available to the states in a planned manner, he said.
Hitting back at Gehlot, Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia on Thursday accused Congress government in the state of mismanagement during the COVID-19 crisis.
“The Congress government has been long trying to hide its shortcomings, weaknesses and incapabilities by blaming the Centre,” he said in a virtual press conference.
“The Centre is ready to develop all facilities in Rajasthan, from oxygen to Remdesivir injections to ventilator. and is doing so. Despite this, Congress leaders are weakening people’s morale through their blatant statements,” he said.
Poonia requested Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to “follow the spirit of cooperative federalism” in the fight against corona.
Referring to a letter written by BJP National President JP Nadda to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, he said that during the pandemic, the opposition should have played a positive role in the country, by building confidence and boosting people’s morale.
He further said that through the helplines run by BJP, people and the government were getting help with oxygen and Remdesivir injections.
The pandemic on Thursday claimed 159 lives in Rajasthan which registered 15,867 more coronavirus positive cases, taking the total fatality toll to 6,317 and infections to 8,21,525.
Jaipur reported the highest number of 47 deaths followed by Jodhpur where as many as 15 people died, an official health bulletin said on Thursday.
Bikaner reported 13 deaths followed by Udaipur (12), Sikar (11), Alwar (10), the statement said, adding fatalities were also reported from other districts of the state.
Of the fresh positive cases, a maximum of 4,099 cases was reported from Jaipur while 1,074 and 997 persons tested positive in Udaipur and Jodhpur respectively.
A total of 6,03,319 persons have recovered from infection and the number of active cases at present is 2,11,889.
