Milestone of 150 cr Covid vaccine doses achieved today; this is India’s achievement: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata. The PM inaugurated the facility via video conferencing. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also attended the inauguration ceremony via a video link.
Speaking on the occasion, the PM said India has reached the historic milestone of administering 150 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses today.
PM Modi said it has been due to the efforts of all including scientists, vaccine manufacturers and healthcare workers that the country has been able to achieve this milestone in the journey that had started from zero.
The PM further said that 90 per cent of the eligible adult population of the country has received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
The PM also noted during the virtual address that the vaccination of children between the age group of 15 and 18 years had started at the beginning of this year (January 3) and within 5 days, more than 1.5 crore children of the age group have been inoculated.
The PM noted that the Centre has so far provided around 11 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine to West Bengal free of cost.
“More than 1.5 thousand ventilators, over nine thousand new oxygen cylinders have also been provided to West Bengal Further, 49 PSA new oxygen plants have also started to function in the state,” the PM stated.
The PM further said that more than 2.60 crore people including 17 lakh cancer patients have benefited from Ayushman Bharat scheme across the country.
“The government has also reduced the cost of knee implants, and that has especially benefited our senior citizens. This has helped in annual reduction of Rs 1,500 crore, helping the citizens. The PM National Dialysis Programme has helped 12 lakh poor with free dialysis,” PM Modi stated.
The event, however, did not attend without its share of controversy as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said in her address that the facility had already been started earlier when the state needed additional Covid care beds.
