The State government has constituted a high power committee for allocation of Tocilizumab drug for COVID-19 patients in government and private hospitals across Telangana.
The committee will comprise Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences director and directors of Medical Education, and Public Health and Family Welfare as its members. The office of the Director of Medical Education would receive the request for Tocilizumab from the hospitals for specific patients and place it before the committee.
The patient-wise request from hospitals should have detailed recommendation of a team of three specialist doctors from the hospitals which is indenting the drug after assessment of the patient’s condition.
The committee should satisfy criteria like no active bacteria/fungal/tubercular infection, no improvement despite use of steroids, significantly raised inflammatory markers and presence of severe disease (preferably within 24 to 48 hours of onset of severe disease/ICU admission) and make allocation.
According to a note from the Union Health Ministry, Tocilizumab is expensive and Cipla is its sole distributor in the country. The drug went out of stock in the past few weeks and had been replenished in limited quantities with States being allotted fixed quotas. Most States secured between 25 and 200 units of the drug, and would further distribute them to government and private hospitals, the note added.
