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Pharma firms must supply Remdesivir vials to Maharashtra on time: Bombay HC
Taking note of chaos prevailing due to multiple procurement methods of Remdesivir vials, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court (HC) on Sunday directed the chief secretary of Maharashtra to act immediately and remove the confusion leading to delay in getting the life-saving drug for Covid-19, from seven manufacturers
Taking note of chaos prevailing due to multiple procurement methods of Remdesivir vials, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court (HC) on Sunday directed the chief secretary of Maharashtra to act immediately and remove the confusion leading to delay in getting the life-saving drug for Covid-19, from seven manufacturers. The HC also directed the chief secretary to immediately go for centralised procurement and distribute the drug in a fair and equitable manner to all the districts, consistent with the order of the Centre.
Taking pharmaceutical companies to task for their failure to adhere to the supply schedule, the HC made it clear that all the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir shall supply vials to the state as per the allotment guidelines, and only after the quota allotted to them is fulfilled, they can distribute remaining vials to private parties. In case of any violation, the FDA has been directed to prosecute such an erring pharma company for violating directions of the court and for jeopardising precious human life.
All pharma companies have been directed to submit their daily production figures of Remdesivir and life-saving drugs to tackle Covid to the FDA commissioner and upload on their website. Any violation will attract criminal prosecution, the high court warned.
The HC also expressed unhappiness over curtailment in state quota by Centre for the next nine days and asked the Centre to consider its decision. As per the latest order issued by the Union health ministry, Maharashtra will cumulatively get 809,500 vials up to May 9 which includes the earlier 4.35 lakh vials. The HC noted that such reduction is not consistent with a reduction in the number of active cases in the state which still has the highest number of active patients in the country.
Hours before Nagpur bench of Bombay HC began its emergent hearing on Sunday afternoon for non-compliance of its order to supply 20,000 Remdesivir vials to Nagpur, Akola and Bhandara districts, the state government quietly dispatched 19,128 vials while by Sunday afternoon another trench of 960 vials was received.
The FDA commissioner Parimal Singh and Nodal Officer Vijay Waghmare informed a division bench consisting of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Avinash Gharote about this development during the special hearing. Since Nagpur has not received a single vial in the last two days so also districts of Bhandara and Akola, forcing the high court to release 15,000 vials for Nagpur, 2,000 for Bhandara and 3,000 vials for Akola as interim relief without disturbing the regular quota. But till Saturday night there was no word about Remdesivir allotment, after which Amicus Curiae Shreerang Bhandarkar moved an application seeking urgent hearing and action for breach of the order.
The machinery swung into action and before the hearing commenced informed the HC about the receipt of 19,128 vials received for three districts and allotment of 960 more vials by Sunday evening.
The HC made it clear that state FDA must ensure supply of allotted quantity as well quantity not supplied during last 10 days to all districts every day and procure it from pharma companies while casting duty on companies to adhere to supply schedule given to them or else coercive action will be ordered against them for any deliberate default.
