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Protest at Pune medical store over Remdesivir shortage
Pune: District collector Rajesh Deshmukh’s order banning over-the-counter sale of anti-viral drug Remdesivir has failed to stop relatives and friends of Covid patients from crowding medical shops as hospitals claim they still have not received the stock
Pune: District collector Rajesh Deshmukh’s order banning over-the-counter sale of anti-viral drug Remdesivir has failed to stop relatives and friends of Covid patients from crowding medical shops as hospitals claim they still have not received the stock.
The order issued by Deshmukh on Saturday states that the anti-viral drug would be available only at Covid hospitals.
Crowd was seen in front of medical stores, including Central Drugs store at Shukrawar peth, on Monday. Many had to return frustrated, leading to anger that resulted in protest during the morning. By evening, the administration claimed that Pune has received 6,000 doses of Remdesivir and it is distributed among hospitals as per requirements of patients.
Dinesh Khivasara, assistant commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said, “We have distributed 6,000 doses of Remdesivir received on Monday. Each district in Maharashtra gets its share from the state according to hospitalised patients. Pune gets about 13-14% of the injections which the state gets.”
During the day, some hospitals claimed they have enough stock for the next few days, but relatives of patients admitted in small hospitals were left in the lurch.
Small medical treatment facilities and even PMC’s Covid care centres continued to prescribe drugs and asked the relatives to get the injection from outside, despite the collector’s order on April 10 asking hospitals to procure the drugs from the administration instead of asking the relatives to get the drugs.
Resident Madhuri Karanjkar was waiting in queue in front of Central Drug store Gadikhana since 6 am as her father-in-law was admitted to the Baner Covid centre. She said, “My father-in-law is admitted at a centre and the hospital made him call us and asked us to get the drug. I came here early morning and at around 10 am they put out a notice saying that no drugs would be provided here. There are only two helplines for the entire district and they are engaged all the time.”
Another woman who was also protesting at the drug store due to the drug unavailability said, “There are no drugs available in small hospitals. One of my relative is admitted in a 15-bed hospital and they asked us to get the drug from outside since they do not have it. Major hospitals are getting the stock.”
After waiting outside the drug store for hours, the residents staged a protest and left the store without getting the injections.
At PMC-run COEP jumbo care centre, patients were asked to get it from outside. After one such patient’s relative was found to be looking for the drug outside the centre, Dr Shreyansh Kapale, director of Medbros, the agency that runs the centre said, “We have not asked the patient’s relatives, but they sometimes volunteer to get it because of their own concerns. Since the relatives need the prescription to get the drugs, so we give them.”
Dr Nitin Lohakare, medical director of Mahesh Smruti multi-speciality hospital said, “We are a 50-bed Covid hospital where we have 48 positive patients and almost 45 patients need Remdesivir. However, we have not yet got any stock of the injection yet. Remdesivir is a potent drug for those with high grade fever and also hypoxia for those with comorbidities.”
Dr Avinash Bhondwe, Indian Medical Association (IMA) president for Maharashtra said, “The government is unnecessarily blaming doctors for the injection shortage by claiming that the latter are prescribing it without assessment. The drug has been proven to work across the country. It has to be given at the earlier stage for patients with mild and moderate symptoms. It has also proven to work in other viral epidemics. It basically prevents the replication of the virus and spread of the diseases which stops the patients from becoming serious. While earlier doctors were prescribing about 10 doses for each patient, now we prescribe only 6 doses as per protocol, which is two doses on day one and then four injections for the next four days. The drug works on patients which diagnosis of a chest computed tomography (CT) score of seven or more and also when the viral load is not high. If the patient is severe then the drug will not work. The shortage is because of the drastic rise in demand which could not be met. The health minister has assured that there would be ample supply of the drug after April 15.”
A senior FDA official said, “The shortage is in private hospitals because about 78% of the hospitalised patients are being prescribed Remdesivir which was earlier about 10-15%. The administration has also formed a team to ensure that the drug is prescribed appropriately. We are hoping to get a fresh stock again on Tuesday but are yet to know the numbers.”
