Chandigarh, May 13 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday urged Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take immediate measures to establish mini COVID care centres in the state and accelerate the vaccination process.

The Punjab government should ensure that the entire state is vaccinated in the next three months and for this, 500 teams should be formed to cover all 12,000 villages, he told reporters here.

Badal also appealed to the state government to re-employ all doctors and para-medical staffers who superannuated in the last one year.

Similarly, interns and nursing students should also be hired to fill in the crucial gaps and ensure there is no shortage of manpower, the SAD chief said.

He urged the chief minister to establish mini COVID care centres with level one and two facilities in all blocks of the state.

Badal said people need access to basic care and oxygen upon being infected by the virus and mini COVID care centres will give them immediate relief.

He asked the government to put a cap on COVID treatment charges in private hospitals which are allegedly taking Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh from patients.

"Private institutions are charging as much as Rs 10,000 for a simple CT scan test besides Rs 20,000 for life-saving drugs. Black marketing of medicines should be stopped immediately," he added.

Badal also called for subsidising treatment of COVID patients, with the Punjab government taking on the responsibility of paying the hospitalisation charges.

Stating that the common man is going through a lot of hardships due to the pandemic, the SAD president said the government should waive electricity and water bills for the next six months.

He said financial relief should be extended to taxi drivers, rickshawpullers, small shopkeepers and labourers whose livelihood had been severely affected by the ongoing lockdown in the state.

Punjab on Wednesday had registered 197 more deaths, taking the toll to 11,111, while 8,347 new cases pushed the COVID infection tally to 4,67,539.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)