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Why experts are not happy with India’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement, pricing policy
The Narendra Modi government’s recent strategy in respect of vaccination against COVID-19 has drawn flak from a section of public healthcare experts as well as economists.
The Union government recently announced two crucial steps: Vaccine makers can sell half their COVID-19-related stock to states and the private sector and vaccination would open up for the 18-45 age group May 1, 2021; but they won’t be sponsored by the Centre, like others have been until now.
Earlier, the central government had agreed to provide emergency use approval for vaccine candidates that have been okayed by the developed countries.
Soon after the Centre’s decision, Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd priced its Covishield vaccine at Rs 600 a shot for private providers and Rs 400 for states, later scaled down to Rs 300. Bharat Biotech International Ltd has priced a single dose of its Covaxin at a flat Rs 600. Every recipient must take two doses of either vaccine.
Experts slammed the move by the Centre to allow COVID-19 vaccine makers to sell 50 per cent of their stock directly to states and the open market.
More than 20 states, including Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka, have announced free vaccination either for all or particular age groups.
State governments, which have no prior experience in procuring vaccines, will end up spending 27 per cent of their health budget on an average, Anjela Taneja, lead (inequality, health, and education) for charity network Oxfam, told Down To Earth. The figure is based on an estimation done by Oxfam for an upcoming report.
“At least 27 per cent of the state health budget 2021 will go into just getting the vaccination done. How will the procurement of medical oxygen, ventilators, hospitals and medicines happen?” she asked.
Calculations done by different experts suggest that vaccinating the entire population would cost the Union government somewhere between Rs 50,000-70,000 crore. The Union government had allocated Rs 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccination in the 2021-22 Budget.
Ratings agency India Ratings and Research Pvt Ltd’s (Ind-Ra) estimates show that vaccinating the entire population may cost Rs 67,190 crore, of which the Union government will incur Rs 20,870 crore and state governments together will incur Rs 46,320 crore. The total is only 0.36 per cent of the gross domestic product, a small amount, given the economic cost of the pandemic. The calculation was based on the assumption of Rs 400 per dose, with five per cent wastage.
Similarly, Indranil Mukhopadhyay, health economist at OP Jindal School of Public and Government Policy, said procuring vaccines for 1.3 billion Indians (Rs 500 per person) would have cost the government roughly Rs 56,000 crore.
“But if the central government is procuring at scale, the cost would be reduced. Then, a Rs 35,000 crore (budget) would also be good enough. If there is a shortfall, the PM CARES fund can be utilised,” he said – DTE
COPF final report on USD 2.5 mn cyber fraud recommends action against all responsible
The US$2.5 million loss incurred during Sri Lanka’s foreign debt repayment to Australia was a clear case of a cybercrime and theft, Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva told Parliament yesterday.
Presenting the COPF final report on the cyber fraud, Dr. de Silva said the incident amounted to a serious financial crime and called for a comprehensive investigation, by law enforcement authorities, to identify and prosecute all those responsible.
The report revealed serious governance, procedural and operational failures that enabled the fraudulent transfer of public funds, while recommending sweeping reforms to strengthen cybersecurity, financial controls and public debt management systems.
According to the report, officials of the Treasury and the Central Bank bore responsibility for governance lapses that contributed to the failures. It also highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Finance was operating an outdated Microsoft Exchange Server after security support had ended, while basic safeguards, such as multi-factor authentication, had not been implemented.
The COPF said suspicious payment instructions linked to debt repayments involving India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium had also been detected, preventing further losses. However, the US$ 2.5 million fraud materialised only in the repayment transaction involving Australia.
The report has noted that officials had failed to verify lender email domains, relied on unverified email communications and lacked adequate internal controls, allowing the fraud to continue for months.
Although the investigation uncovered system-wide weaknesses across several institutions, only four mid-level Finance Ministry officials had been suspended so far, the report said.
The COPF has recommended a special audit of the foreign debt repayment process, strengthened cybersecurity measures across state institutions, updated financial regulations and improvements to public debt management systems.
by Saman Indrajith
News
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, together with Opposition MPs, yesterday signed a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in Parliament against Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara.The move comes in response to the unrest at the Negombo Prison, where both prison officers and inmates were killed.
Opposition members said the Minister had failed to fulfill his responsibility and accountability regarding their safety.According to the Opposition group, the NCM seeks to hold the Minister directly accountable for lapses in ensuring protection within the prison system.
The Attorney General yesterday informed the Supreme Court that the government has decided to review the legality of agreements entered into by the previous administration to hand over the country’s electronic visa issuance operations to private companies.
Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, appearing for the Attorney General, made the submission when the Supreme Court took up the fundamental rights petitions filed by former MPs President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Rauff Hakeem, challenging the previous Cabinet’s decision to outsource the e-visa system.
The petitions were heard before a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeyesekere.
The Additional Solicitor General informed court that the current Cabinet had appointed a subcommittee to examine the legality of the agreements with the private companies and requested time to report on its findings, stating that the review was still underway.
President’s Counsel Sumanthiran, appearing as one of the petitioners, told the court that although the present government had indicated its intention to cancel the transaction, the petitioners wished to proceed with the case.
He noted that members of the current Cabinet had been named as respondents in the petitions.The Supreme Court directed the petitioners to issue notice on the members of the current Cabinet, named as respondents, and fixed September 29 for further proceedings.
US$ 2.5 mn cyber heist exposes system failures
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
AG informs SC of e-visa agreement review
Navy, Coast Guard seize smuggled pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in Puttalam
BASL urges President to fill superior courts’ vacancies
Mariazelle passes away
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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