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Involve private companies in vaccine drive, Wipro's Azim Premji tells Indian FM

Bengaluru - Move could help vaccinate 500 million people in 2 months, he tells Nirmala Sitharaman.

Wipro czar Azim Premji on Sunday urged the Indian Finance Minister to involve the private sector and hospitals to speed up the country's anti-Covid vaccination drive.

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

"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 in Bengaluru.

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.

The nationwide vaccination drive, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched on January 16 from New Delhi, has till date covered over 1.1-crore healthcare workers and frontline warriors across the country.

"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.

Besides captains of industry and India Inc, noted cardiologist Devi Shetty and former Infosys board member T.V. Mohadas Pai participated in the interaction.