In Chennai, people throng govt counter selling Remdesivir for critical Covid-19 patients – Hindustan Times

Chennai News

After making several distress calls and running around to source six vials of antiviral drug Remdesivir for his 70-year-old father-in-law, who was on a ventilator in a private hospital, his attendant was finally able to buy it directly from the government. “Those who have family and friends can go and buy, we don’t know what senior citizens, who are admitted and have no one, are doing,” he said, requesting anonymity.

On Monday, the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) opened a special counter at Chennai’s government-run Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where it began selling the drug for 1,400 plus GST per pack. Doctors have been prescribing Remdesivir drug but with stocks dwindling in several private hospitals, it leaves the onus on a critical patient’s family to source it. This has led to hoarding and black-marketing of the drug with soaring prices.

As news spread through word of mouth and social media, attendants and relatives of patients began thronging the counter. After the initial chaos, people began forming long queues and some even waited from early morning. Five documents are required to be produced to buy the drug – a letter or prescription from the treating doctor, a report stating that the patient is on oxygen support, CT chest report, RT-PCR positive report and Aadhaar card. Other than the patients’ kin, hospitals can also purchase the drugs from the TNMSC.

“Yesterday the crowd was manageable but today it is out of control,” said state health secretary J Radhakrishnan. “This was done to prevent black marketing, we were told it was being sold from Gujarat to private hospitals here. We got a lot of response since it is being sold at government prescribed prices. We are taking steps to streamline the process. We have sufficient stock of the drug at TNMSC,” he added.

The Centre has allotted 59,000 vials of Remdesivir till April 30 To Tamil Nadu against pending orders of the state totalling 2.5 lakh. Four days ago, chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against directions being issued by national and certain state regulators, prioritising supplies by individual manufacturers to certain states and restricting Remdesivir sales only within the state where the drug is being produced. “This would be very damaging to the availability of such valuable life-saving drugs in places of need. At this stage, any restrictive orders by individual states should be strictly barred to ensure easy accessibility of Remdesivir,” he said in his letter.

Remdesivir, an antiviral injection used to treat Ebola virus, is being used to treat oxygen-dependent Sars-CoV-2 patients with severely affected lungs.

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Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/in-chennai-people-throng-govt-counter-selling-remdesivir-for-critical-covid-19-patients-101619552612104.html