CHENNAI: Taking into account the crowding at the counter selling Remdesivir at the Kilpauk Medical College, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that it is planning to shift the counters to the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium at Vepery for the convenience of the public. The state also said there will be additional counters at the new location, adding that it proposes to sell at least 20,000 vials per day.
Advocate general R Shumughasundaram made the submissions before the first bench comprising the Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy during the hearing of the suo motu plea on COVID-19 management.
The submissions were made after one of the advocates complained to the court that there was only one counter selling the drug and it had to be expanded.
Earlier, the state submitted to the court that it has so far received 250,000 vials of Remdesivir and the minimum requirement is 20,000 vials per day. However, the allocation is only 7,000 vials per day that too without any assurance on allocation and supply, submitted Advocate General R Shunmughasundaram.
Recently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin brought this to the notice of the central government and sought more supply as the state was having a shortage of the drug.
The move comes in the wake of family members of COVID-19 patients being forced to stand in long queues at the Kilpauk Medical College for purchasing the drug with no guarantee of getting it.