Centre halts supply, states to buy remdesivir on their own; cases dip
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 29
India will continue the use of remdesivir, an anti-viral experimental therapy for Covid-19, with the government on Saturday announcing a decision to maintain a strategic stockpile of 50 lakh vials for emergency. With the supplies stabilising, states have been allowed to procure the injection on their own.
Production up
- Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya said the production of remdesivir had been raised 10 times from 33,000 vials a day on April 11 to 3,50,000 vials a day currently.
- The government has further increased the number of plants producing remdesivir from 20 to 60.
The government started central procurement and allocation of remdesivir in April after severe shortage of the drug at the height of the second wave. Despite the second wave receding and daily cases hitting a 45-day low of 1, 73, 790 today, the government said it would continue using remdesivir. The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, however, said it would discontinue central allocation of the injection as the production had hit a peak and the supply was more than the demand. Central allocations had been done to prevent black-marketing of the drug.
Agencies told to check hoarding
Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya said: “Now, the country has enough remdesivir,” Mandaviya said, adding that the central allocation of remdesivir to states would discontinue. The National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Agency and the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation have been told to check hoarding.
