Members of parliamentary panel on Home seek details of progress on COVID-19 vaccine
Jul 15, 2020
By Ashoke Raj / Amit Kumar
New Delhi [India], July 15 : A meeting of parliamentary panel on Home was held on Wednesday with members seeking affordable and easy availability of drugs used in the treatment of coronavirus patients.
The meeting of Standing Committee on Home Affairs was chaired by Congress MP Anand Sharma.
Sources said the members were very keen to know the latest information on progress in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. No cure of the disease has been found until now.
"Officials from Home Ministry and Health Ministry gave a detailed presentation at the meeting about the lockdown situation, coronavirus situation and work being done regarding coronavrus vaccine," a source told ANI.
The lawmakers said that big pharma companies were "behind the promotion of expensive drugs" and sought "affordable and easy availability" of drugs for coronavirus treatment.
"Lawmakers stressed that drugs cost for coronavirus should not be expensive. They also raised the issues of black marketing of drugs related to coronavirus," the source added.
In the meeting, the members said there should be smooth coordination between the Centre and states to combat coronavirus.
The members also talked about problems of migrant labourers who returned to their native states in large numbers after the first lockdown was imposed.
Sources said 14 of 31 members of the committee were present at the meeting due to conditions created by coronavirus.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Joint Secretary, Health Ministry Lav Agarwal were also present in the meeting.
