Supriyo said that while he bought the shot for his 84-year father, he wondered how those from underprivileged sections would afford it
The former MP, who quit the BJP in July last year and later joined the TMC, posted on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19 along with his wife, father and multiple staff members. ANI
Former Union minister Babul Supriyo said he along with his wife, father and several members of his staff have tested positive for COVID-19 .
“Me, my wife, Dad, multiple staff, have all tested positive, but my concern is the superhigh Rs 61000/- price of the cocktail jab that needs to be given SOS to seriously ill COVID19 patients. Dad who is 84, needed the jab SOS and I have to buy it on-the-spot. How can the EWS afford it? (sic),” he tweeted.
Supriyo, while alerting people who had come in contact with him to isolate and get tested, raised a few pertinent questions on the price of COVID-19 cocktail shot – a treatment being given to seriously ill COVID-19 patients.
He said that the price of the cocktail jab is Rs 61000, an amount which is quite high for people from economically weaker sections to afford. Supriyo’s father has been advised to take the cocktail jab and the Trinamool Congress leader had to buy it on the spot.
The former MP urged the government, tagging home minister Amit Shah and health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Twitter, to make this SOS jab available at state-run hospitals at the earliest at a low price.
He requested the Centre to get the price of this life-saving drug to be slashed.
“Since even the fully vaccinated are not immune fresh infections, Govt must act quickly to make this jab available in Govt hospitals simultaneously along with the ongoing vaccination drive. Vaccination is must but the cocktail is the need of the hour,” he tweeted.
Supriyo, who left BJP and joined TMC after the West Bengal Assembly elections, first tested positive in November 2020. His mother, who was infected with COVID at the same, succumbed to the disease during that period. Supriyo again tested positive in April 2021.
He expressed concern over the high transmission rate of the new variant and that people are hardly following any COVID protocols or wearing masks. “Not really worried about the positive-ness but the sheer number of individuals who got contracted and no way to find out who gave it to whom. VERY FEW are wearing masks (sic.),” he tweeted.
With inputs from PTI
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