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City faces crunch of COVID-19 medicine

While dist collector issued statement on Tuesday, assuring enough stock of Remdesivir and helplines to medical stores, citizens say crisis is acute

The district collector on Tuesday had issued an official statement, assuring citizens of adequate stocks of Remdesivir, a drug used to treat COVID-19 patients, being available in the city.

However, the reality on ground seems to appear quite the contrary to doctors and family members of virus-hit citizens, who are struggling to procure the drug.

COVID-19 patients are administered around six vials of the drug in a span of five days. District collector Rajesh Deshmukh had given out a list of medicine stores with phone numbers where the drug would be available. Citizens, however, claim that no one is attending to their calls, while some are even switched off.

Kin of a 74-year-old patient admitted at Dalvi Hospital had to visit over 12 hospitals to get the drug and was still unsuccessful. “I even visited Poona Hospital, which has a pharmacy that is the central distributor of the drug, for three straight days, but failed to procure it. Finally, I was able to get it through a doctor relative of mine,” said the son of a patient, adding that people are allegedly resorting to the black market to obtain it as the helplines circulated are not helpful.

A relative of a 60-year-old male patient who is admitted at Yash Hospital, Hadapsar, added, “We visited more than 10 hospitals, looking for the medicines while the condition of my relative was deteriorating. Eventually, an acquaintance in the pharmaceutical business helped us.”

“At present, while the medicine is available in corporate and government hospitals, around 50 small and medium hospitals that don’t stock the drug or have their own pharmacy are facing a shortage. The patients admitted are given the prescription to go looking for the drug,” admitted Dr Sanjay Patil, vicepresident, IMA, Pune.

Dr Abhijit More, state co-convener of Jan Aarogya Abhiyan, said, “We have asked the divisional commissioner to start a dashboard for Remdesivir and similar drugs so that citizens don’t suffer. “The helplines provided are not useful. The district administration claims there is enough stock, but the situation is just the opposite, with the drug being sold for exorbitant rates.”

SB Patil, joint commissioner of Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pune division, said, “Doctors are not using the drug in a rational way. We are going to issue a letter to the doctors to use it rationally as per the protocol. We have also spoken to the manufacturing companies, asking them to increase the capacity.”

District collector Deshmukh added, “I will speak with the FDA officials and look into the issue and ask them to make the required arrangements.”

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