As people swarmed the Coimbatore Medical College (CMC) in Peelamedu on Monday to buy Remdesivir, the staff at the special sales counter had to issue tokens for the next four days.
“As of now the counter sells 500 vials of Remdesivir a day (a maximum of six vials for a buyer). A large number of people came to the campus and requested us to issue tokens rather than making them wait for long hours. We took their request into consideration and tokens were issued for four days”, said an official.
The counter remained closed on Sunday and the staff had issued tokens for Monday. In addition to the people who were given tokens, hundreds of people came to the CMC on Monday after coming to know about the special sales counter.
When the stock of vials for the day got exhausted, people staged a protest on Avinashi Road by blocking it on Monday. The Peelamedu police held talks with people who had come from various parts of the city, its suburbs and even faraway places. Most of them were given tokens for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The counter, which functions from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., sells a vial of Remdesivir for ₹ 1,568. A person can buy a maximum of six vials of Remdesivir upon producing RT-PCR test result, CT scan report of the patient, original prescription for the drug by the doctor who treats the patient, photocopies of the Aadhaar card of the patient and the person who comes to buy the drug.
Salem Staff Reporter adds
Long queues were seen at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College near Salem Steel Plant to buy Remdesivir.
The sale of the drug began at the medical college on Saturday with 500 doses, all of which were sold that day.
Caregivers of patients from neighbouring districts like Namakkal, Erode, Kallakuruchi, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri are travelling here to procure the drug.
Since the counter was closed on Sunday, they queued up from the early hours of Monday get the vials. According to officials, 300 doses were available for sale on Monday. The doses are given on the basis of the severity of the infection in a patient.
M. Mohamed, caregiver of a patient in Vellore, said “I came here on Saturday and since the stock got over, I was provided only with a token. Though the hospital has prescribed six doses, I have been provided only three. Now I would have to return again from Vellore for the medicine”.
K. Kandhasamy, caregiver of another patient, said he had been waiting in the queue since early morning for the medicine and received only three dose. The place is also getting crowded, posing risk of COVID-19 infection, he said.
