VIJAYAWADA: At a time when medical and health department officials claim the State government has made arrangements to supply Remdesivir injections for Covid-19 patients and ensured transparency in its sale, the ground reality is quite different.While the government is supplying the injections to all the private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients to put an end to allegations of short supply, some private hospitals are reportedly forcing patients to purchase the Remdesivir injections on their own.
As per Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal’s directions, the hospital management must buy the vials or purchase from the store after getting approval of Drugs Control Administration nodal officers if they run out of stock or during an emergency.
Nodal officer for Krishna K Raja Bhanu, who is the Assistant DG of DCA, said, “We are receiving complaints from the public that some private hospitals are forcing the patients to buy Remdesivir from outside citing ‘no stock’. Having no option, the attendants of Covid-19 patients purchase the vials at higher prices in the black market. Action will be taken against such hospitals for earning easy money during testing times.” He urged the public to admit their family members in notified Covid-19 hospitals only.
People demanded why the hospitals, who can purchase the injections from both the pharma firms and Drug Department on a daily basis, fail to maintain stock and insist that patients buy the injections from outside. “There is a need to make Covid-19 resources public so that one can verify the claims of hospitals. After the hospital failed to procure Remdesivir, I bought three vials at a cost of `1 lakh,” K Bala Krishna of Gollapudi, whose mother is admitted in a private hospital, said.