Sajidah Yousuf
Srinagar, Jun 1: The government on Monday said that there was no proposal of procuring any new imported vaccines here except Sputnik-V as the Government of India (GoI) has not given a nod for it.
Advisor to governor for Health and Medical Education, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar in an exclusive conversation also said that the government is about to complete the vaccination process of the age group of above 45-years-old.
Bhatnagar said, “We are in process to procure more vaccines. The GoI has now approved a new vaccine, it is about to reach here. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has already placed the order for that.”
He said that the vaccines that were approved here till now like Covishield and Covaxin, both the vaccines are being administered to the people of the age group of 18-45.
“Vaccination process is going on and the government has also started the vaccination for the age group of 18-45 and as far as the vaccination process of the people of above 45 years of age, the vaccination process is about to complete,” Bhatnagar said.
On asking about the procurement of imported vaccines for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the advisor said that as of now only Sputnik-V vaccine has been approved by the Government of India (GoI).
He said, “As it is seen everything is being done to tackle the situation, cases are also coming down, we have sufficient beds, oxygen supply right from the village level to the Panchayat level and COVID-19 care centres with five beds at every stage.”
Bhatnagar said that the relaxation in the lockdown is as per norms and the public needs to follow the recommended COVID-19 protocols.
“We are also expanding our services to our capacity to contain the spread of virus on a daily basis and testing of the symptomatic persons is also being carried out rapidly,” he said.
When asked about the procurement of further lifesaving equipment, Bhatnagar said, “Upgrading the infrastructure and lifesaving equipment’s is a routine exercise. We have sufficient quantity of ventilators and we are expanding all facilities in easing the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds.”
