After widespread demand of corona vaccine from different states, India is now facing acute shortage of Remdesivir, the medicine prescribed to cure the patients who fall ill. The gravity of the situation prompted the government on April 11 to ban the export of the drug till normalisation returns. The surge in COVID-19 cases is responsible for the high demand of this drug.
Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh etc. have been facing serious paucity of this injection for the last few days.
Reports say that in several places in Nashik and Ahmedabad people had to line up for the whole night to get this medicine which is used by serious patients. According to reports, it is available in black market at high price in several places.
The Centre has asked the states to prevent the hoarding of the drug, and steps are being taken to increase its production. In India, seven firms are engaged in the manufacturing of the drug.
Meanwhile, the BJP in Gujarat appears to have landed in trouble after the distribution of 1,000 vials of Remdesivir from the party’s Surat unit office. The opposition Congress and many doctors are questioning as to how a schedule-H drug is being distributed at the office of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and that too when the drug has dried up not only in Gujarat but the entire country.
A defensive chief minister Vijay Rupani told media persons to ask C R Patil about it. Patil, an MP and the state BJP chief, on his part said that the drug has been procured with the help of some friends and distributed at market price to the patients.
However, the unanswered question is: how his friends managed to get it when the city hospital has a day earlier ran out of stock. Schedule-H drugs can be sold only on doctor’s prescription by those having drug license.
