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Bihar moves to procure Remdesivir stocks, more oxygen supply as cases surge
PATNA The Bihar government Saturday announced emergency procurement of Remdesivir (an anti-viral drug) from all the five manufacturing companies of the country even as the state reported 7,870 new Covid-19 cases, its highest single-day spike since the pandemic outbreak last year
PATNA
The Bihar government Saturday announced emergency procurement of Remdesivir (an anti-viral drug) from all the five manufacturing companies of the country even as the state reported 7,870 new Covid-19 cases, its highest single-day spike since the pandemic outbreak last year.
The state government has authorized Bihar Medical Infrastructure Corporation Limited to procure Remdesivir under emergency procurement from all the five companies involved in making this medicine. “The state government, so far, was procuring this from three companies only,” said principal secretary (health) Pratyaya Amrit on Saturday, while interacting with media persons.
Patna reported maximum number of cases (1898) while Gaya reported 610. The number of cases also increased in Muzaffarpur, which recorded 541 cases.
The total number of active cases in the state was 39,497, with Patna alone accounting for 12,118.
The recovery rate in the state stands at 86.93%. According to government data, 34 people lost their life due to Covid in last 24 hours.
“The infection is spreading very fast and this is the highest reporting of positive cases so far,” Amrit said.
Meanwhile, the state government, in an effort to resolve the problem of oxygen shortage, set up a control room to monitor the availability and distribution in a better way. “The control room will monitor the requirement of oxygen in medical institutions of the state and ensure they get an uninterrupted supply,” said Amrit.
He said oxygen containers from Bokaro will start reaching the state from Saturday night.
“We have asked the two major suppliers Linde India and Inox Air Products Ltd to supply medical oxygen on a daily basis, instead of alternate days now,” said Amrit.
Bihar has to essentially rely on West Bengal and Jharkhand for supply of medical oxygen through distributors. “The additional chief secretary (Industry) is also holding talks with different stakeholders for uninterrupted supply of oxygen,” he said.
Govt should stop discrimination: IMA
Senior vice-president of IMA (Bihar) Dr Ajay Kumar, said government should stop discrimination between registered (under Bihar Clinical Registration act) and unregistered clinical establishments run by registered doctors.
“Government is utilizing services of unregistered clinics under PM Arogya Yojana, but it’s not allowing clinics having ICUs and other facilities to treat Covid patients . Since yesterday, district officers have stopped supply of oxygen to unregistered clinics threatening lives of patients admitted there,” he said.
He said allowing private unregistered clinics to treat Covid patients will create an additional 1000 Covid beds and 200 ICUs.
