There Are Other Ways To Rectify Mistakes
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-05-13 14:53:38
About the Author
The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers,
D V Sadananda Gowda today asked whether people governing the country should
hang themselves if vaccines are not produced in desired quantities. "The
court has with good intention said everyone in the country should get
vaccinated. I want to ask you, if the court says tomorrow that you have to give
this much (of vaccine), if it has not been produced yet, should we hang
ourselves?" Mr Gowda told reporters in Bengaluru.
This is a question put forward by a frustrated
man. The minister should know that neither the court nor the people are asking anyone
in the government to hang themselves. But the government must admit its
failures instead of being in denial. If the vaccines are not being produced,
how is it that several rich countries are sitting on huge stocks for which they
are being criticized? How is it that despite India being called the "pharmacy
of the world" and taking pride in producing every third vaccine dose made in
the world not able to produce enough vaccines while others are doing it easily?
This is a government failure of huge magnitude. It
was huge mistake to rely only upon domestic producers without anticipating the
huge demand and placing orders to foreign manufacturers too. It was mistake to
allocate Rs 35000 crore for vaccination and then not making it free for every
citizen. It was a mistake not to enforce compulsory licensing and putting all
factories that make vaccines to work. It was a mistake not to negotiate one
price for the whole country with the producers, for acquiring billions of doses
at a single and hugely attractive price is easier than states negotiating for
small doses? What was the use of allocating such a huge amount for vaccination
then?
The government has today said that 200 crore
doses of vaccines will be available by the end of this year. That is good news.
But if it was proactive and had managed things better, these doses could have
come three months earlier through orders with foreign manufacturers and timely
ramping up of domestic production. Hence, those in government should
acknowledge this and accept their mistakes instead of throwing stupid questions
at the media.
