M. Pandian’s wife is undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a private hospital at Perundurai in Erode district. He wanted to buy Remdesivir for her and visited Salem on Saturday to buy the medicine at the newly-opened sales counter. However, he did not bring the required documents. He returned on Sunday only to find the counter closed.
“I was not aware that the counter would not be open on Sunday,” he said.
A day after the special sales counters were opened in Salem and Coimbatore for Remdesivir, many like Mr. Pandian thronged the counters for the medicine though it was a Sunday only to find the counters closed.
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The sales counters in Coimbatore and Salem received 500 vials of the drug each on Saturday.
The authorities concerned in Coimbatore had informed on Saturday that the counter would remain closed on Sunday. The staff of the counter in Coimbatore had to issue tokens to those who had come on Sunday and asked them to return on Monday.
Those who had visited the counter in Salem said they were not aware that it would not be open.
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V. Ramesh, caregiver of an elderly patient at a private hospital in Salem, appealed to the government to consider operating the counter on Sundays too as the medicine was essential to treat those with COVID.