Andhra Pradesh has received 82,000 vials of Remdesivir injections in the second phase. In the first phase, 60,000 vials were allotted to the State, said the Drug Control Administration (DCA) officials.
“The Remdesivir stock has been allotted for the period between May 1 and 9. So far, the Centre has allotted 1.42 lakh vials of Remdesivir to the State during the second wave of the pandemic,” said DCA Director General (DG) S. Ravi Shankar Narayan.
With the incidents of misuse and black marketing of Remdesivir injections, the State government is supplying the stocks to the notified COVID hospitals and monitoring the stock of Remdesivir and oxygen at various hospitals.
Mr. Ravi Shankar Narayan told The Hindu that Remdesivir injections were being allotted based on the indents submitted by the hospital managements on their daily requirement. All measures are being taken to prevent the illegal sale of Remdesivir. Special teams have been constituted in all districts to check the misuse of the vials, he said.
“The teams comprising of the officials of DCA, Vigilance and Enforcement and Health Department visited some hospitals in Visakhapatnam, Prakasam, Nellore, Guntur and other districts. They verified the case sheets, stock position, and interacted with the attendants of the patients undergoing treatment,” Mr. Ravi Shankar said.
Vigilance and Enforcement Director General K.V. Rajendranath Reddy said acting on complaints, raids were conducted on COVID hospitals in the State.
“Cases have been registered under the Section 188 and 120 of the IPC, and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act after some irregularities were found in a few hospitals. We aim at facilitating the supply of Remdesivir to the needy patients and prevent black marketing, not harassing any person,” Mr. Reddy said.
