16.5 lakh vials of remdesivir allocated to states from May 3-9: Government

Union Minister of Chemicals amp Fertilisers DV Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday reviewed the availability of drugs for Covid19 treatment and other essential medicinesGowda said that 165 lakh vials of Remdesivir have been allocated to all the states between May 3 and May 9 adding that since April 21 a total allocation of 345 lakh vials has been made to the states Allocation to the states is a dynamic process and efforts will be made to further enhance supply in the coming weeks he saidDuring the meeting Gowda appreciated the efforts of all the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir for increasing the production capacity to 103 crore vials per month up from 38 lakh vials per month a month ago This increased capacity will augment the domestic availability of the injectionAvailability of other essentials drugs was also discussed during the meeting Gowda stressed on the need to continuously monitor the availability of other essential medicines and to check instances of black marketing and hoarding The Drugs Controller General of India DCGI informed the meeting that a survey is being undertaken to ascertain the availability of various medicines in the marketPreliminary findings suggest that at present there is adequate availability of medicines in the market and the Department of Pharma NPPA and the CDSCO will continue to closely monitor their availabilityRegarding black marketing and hoarding of essential medical supplies the DGCI conveyed that the state drugs controllers SDCs have been instructed to make teams for field inspections adding that strict actions are being taken against hoarding and black marketing of drugsA number of preventive and enforcement actions have been taken by the DCGISDCs to stop hoarding black marketing overcharging of Covid19 management drugs like Remdesivir Tocilizumab Favipiravir etcTill May 1 as many as 78 actions were taken all over India in coordination with SDCs local police FDA etc for hoarding overcharging and black marketing of essential drugsSeizures of drugs vehicles empty vials meant probably for making spurious drugs and cash were made In one case in Chandigarh Remdesivir vials to the tune of 3000 units were recoveredGowda lauded the pharma companies and officers of the Department of Pharma NPPA Ministry of Health amp Family Welfare and CDSCO for their coordinated efforts and close cooperation in ramping up availability of drugs for Covid19 treatment and other essential drugs within the shortest possible time Such close collaboration between the government and the private sector is the need of the hour he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever