BMC to procure 1.5 lakh vials of Remdesivir
With the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has placed an order to procure 1
With the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has placed an order to procure 1.5 lakh vials of Remdesivir as a precautionary measure to avoid any shortage of medicines.
In the last 15 days, the city has reported over 50,000 new Covid-19 cases with an average positivity rate of above 15%. At present, Mumbai has 49,167 active Covid-19 patients who are on treatment now.
Remdesivir is an antiviral drug used for treatment of Ebola and is used in the early stage of the infection to bring down the viral load in patients.
As per the civic body, they already have 70,000 vials of Remdesivir in their stock. In addition to it, they are already in the process to procure another 70,000 vials this week. Along with this, BMC has floated another tender to acquire 1.5 lakh vials of the antiviral drugs. This will help push up the cumulative stocks of Remdesivir to around 3 lakh.
“The overall load of active patients has been the highest since its outbreak last year. So, other than improving the infrastructure, we are also focusing on the procurement process of drugs and oxygen to avoid any shortages of medicines in the future,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC. “Till now, we haven’t got any report of shortages of medicines,” he added.
In November, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Remdesivir doesn’t do much to improve the health of people hospitalized with Covid-19. Despite this, the antiviral drug is being used in all hospitals in treating moderately and severely infected patients on compassionate grounds. “The medicine needs to be provided at the early stage of diagnosis for better results. We have been able to save many critically-ill patients with the drug,” said Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean of BYL Nair Hospital.