Premji wants pvt hospitals in vaccination drive

Bengaluru: Wipro czar Azim Premji on Sunday urged the Central government to involve private hospitals to speed up the anti-Covid vaccination drive across the country.

"If the government involves private hospitals and nursing homes to join the anti-Covid vaccination drive, about 500 million people can be inoculated in 2 months," he told Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here.

Participating in a post-budget interaction with industry leaders, organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) here, Premji said scaling up the vaccination drive to cover more people at the earliest was critical though the government was doing its best.

"I suggest that the government should supplement its efforts by involving private parties to accelerate the vaccination programme," he reiterated.

"If more vaccines are produced and supplied to private hospitals and nursing homes, more people can be given the shot through mass vaccination in less time," Premji said.

Calling upon the private sector to be part of the country's growth story, the Finance Minister said India had proved its mettle as a soft power by supplying anti-Covid vaccines to over 100 countries the world over.