HYDERABAD: The hospitals and medical stores managed by Telangana government has only 8,545 injections of Remdesivir 100mg left with them, as on Thursday night, according to the data available with the State government, which was procured by Express.
As the number of Covid-19 patients ending up in critical conditions in government hospitals is increasing, the drug availability is also going down rapidly. Just three days ago when Express had found that government hospitals and stores had a combined stock of around 11,400 injections, which means that the government hospitals have been using around 1,000 injections per day. Based on these figures, the current stock might not last very long.
While the overall stock of Remdesivir itself is low in government hospitals and medical stores, the distribution of 8,545 injections is also skewed. While Hyderabad has 1,614 injections, Rangareddy 1,430 injections and Khammam 1,306 injections. Remaining districts have somewhere between 30-300 injections.
As per the treatment protocol by the government, one patient would require 600mg Remdesivir over a course of five days. The 8,545 injections of 100mg each presently available with government hospital and stores would be enough to provide a full course for only 1,424 patients.However, the government hospitals already have 1,141 patients admitted in ICUs and 2,546 patients relying on Oxygen support.
As the need for the drug is going up and the stocks continue to remain low, sources in government hospitals where Covid-19 patients are being treated, told Express that they have been receiving communication from higher authorities to be mindful of their usage of Remdesivir.