Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted on Sunday, that the Jharkhand government has approached some pharma companies in Bangladesh for importing the antiviral drug Remdesivir, which is used in the treatment of serious Covid patients. He said the state government has asked the centre’s permission for buying the drug from abroad.
“With the increasing demand Remedisivir for critical patients in Jharkhand and its unavailability, we have reached out to pharma companies in Bangladesh for buying around 50,000 vials for emergency use. I have written to (Union minister) DV Sadanand Gowda ji’s permission to import ASAP (as soon as possible),” Mr Soren tweeted.
Specialists say Remdesivir has been found effective in decreasing the hospital stays of some serious Covid patients.
Because of massive Covid caseloads brought on by the rapid second wave of infections, the drug has been in short supply in several states.
India has reported over 2 lakh daily Covid cases for the last few days, several states have reported shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen and drugs, especially Remdesivir.
At the beginning of this month, the centre banned the export of Remdesivir. Through an order, the government said it had banned the export of Remdesivir injection and Remdesivir active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) till the pandemic situation in the country is stabilised.
Seven Indian companies are producing Remdesivir under a voluntary licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, US. They have a fixed capacity of about 38.80 lakh units per month.
So as to make sure that more people can get Remdesivir, the government said manufacturers of Remdesivir had been asked to show on their website the details of their stockists and distributors.
Drug inspectors and other officers have been asked to check stocks, check any malpractice and stop saving and black marketing.
The government has also decided to speed up the production of the drug to fill the demand-supply gap.
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