Considering the shortage of Remdesivir injections in Nagpur city and district Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, spoke to Sun Pharma chief who reportedly assured to make available 10,000 doses of Remdesivir to Nagpur soon. The shortage of Remdesivir injection continued to haunt COVID-19 patients and their relatives in Nagpur city and district on Saturday, as pharmacies put up notices that they had run out of stock. Remdesivir injection was available in Government hospitals. However, many patients are admitted to private hospitals, and doctors had prescribed multiple doses of the injection to them.

 

The hapless relatives of such patients were frantically calling various contacts, even dialling the numbers circulated on social media, but most complained of either ‘no response’ or no help in terms of availability of the injection. Considering the situation prevailing for the past few days, Gadkari spoke to Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of Sun Pharma, over telephone and requested the latter to make available Remdesivir stock for Nagpur. Accordingly, stated Gadkari’s office in a press release issued on Saturday, Shanghvi responded in positive and assured to make available 5,000 doses of the injection on Saturday and 5,000 more doses in next two-three days. Thus, total 10,000 doses will be available in Nagpur. Meanwhile, in another development, all District Collectors in Maharashtra have been asked to set up district-level control room to ensure proper supply of Remdesivir. Dr Ramaswami, Health Commissioner of Maharashtra, issued a letter in this regard to all the District Collectors in the State on Saturday.

 

At district-level, the letter stated, technical committee should be constituted to monitor if private hospitals are using Remdesivir properly. The letter was issued in accordance with the directions of Rajesh Tope, Health Minister; Dr Rajendra Shingne, Food and Drugs Administration Minister. In a meeting held recently, Tope and Dr Shingne had asked the manufacturers to ramp up production and supply of Remdesivir. The districts having control rooms for streamlining oxygen supply may start receiving calls regarding Remdesivir too at the same control room, and get the grievances redressed through Food and Drugs Administration.

 

 

In a late-night development, decision was taken to provide information about hospital-wise availability of Remdesivir injections, on the official website of Nagpur District Collectorate -- https:// nagpur.gov.in/. As per the data available on the said website, as many as 3,702 doses were distributed to 131 COVID-19 hospitals in the district. These included 2,769 to 105 hospitals in Nagpur city and 933 to 26 hospitals including Military Hospital at Kamptee in rural areas. Ravindra Thakare, District Collector, stated that the availability and distribution of Remdesivir injections to various hospitals would be updated and posted on the said website. Citizens can visit the website https://nagpur.gov.in/ and go to ‘Latest Updates’ section to download the pdf file with hospital-wise details. Henceforth, Remdesivir will be supplied to Dedicated COVID Health Centres in Nagpur district. Supply to other hospitals will be done after assessing the need, said Thakare. There are clear instructions that Remdesivir injection ‘should not be used’ unnecessarily in private hospitals. “The injection is to be used only if COVID-19 patient’s SpO2 level is below 93, if patient is facing difficulty in breathing, and if HRCT score is more than 8,” he said in a video-message issued on Saturday night. He also made it clear that there was ample supply of oxygen. As on April 10 (Saturday), 90-95 tonnes of oxygen was available in district and it would be supplied to COVID Hospitals as per requirement, he added.