After Bombay High Court’s intervention, Maharashtra’s Remdesivir allocation for the period between April 21 and April 30 has been increased from 2,69,000 vials to 4,35,000 vials, by the Central Committee. This decision was taken after the Drug Controller General of India spoke to the Nagpur Bench.
However, the State’s counsel informed the Division Bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Avinash Gharote, that they hadn’t received even one third of the allotted vials from pharmaceutical companies. The Bench orally noted that this was missing from their affidavit and then directed them to file a detailed response on the efforts taken by them to procure the drugs from manufacturers, following the Centre’s revised order, reported LiveLaw.
Further, the court said, “The Central Government’s order is specific and it ought to be followed in its letter and spirit by all the States, in particular the State of Maharashtra. It is in this regard that we would like to have specific information from the State of Maharashtra, which for the present, is not forthcoming.”
The Bench then directed the State, through the Nodal officer, to issue a revised circular, on the allotment of Remdesivir to different districts within Maharashtra, if not already done. “Unless and until such a revised district-wise allocation order is issued by the State Government, it would not be possible for any of the districts to ascertain as to whether or not it is being supplied Remdesivir vials in numbers matching with the drug quota allocated to that district,” said the Bench.
The issue of shortage of Remdesivir was raised by the Bench and it also interacted with the Drug Controller (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) on April 23. The Controller VG Somani had informed the Court that the allocation of Remdesivir was done by a Central Committee, adding, the allocation can be increased if a specific request with proper justification is received from Maharashtra, reported LiveLaw.
The High Court also took stock of persistent issues regarding the drugs. It said, “There are also complaints about irregularities taking place at the Covid Care Centers. It is alleged that these centres/hospitals despite having stock of Remdesivir vials, are not making available Remdesivir vials for their administration to some of the needy patients and this is resulting in some kind of pilferage at the level of individual Covid Care Hospitals.”
It directed the District Collector, Nagpur and also the Commissioner, N.M.C. to carry out individual checks at different hospitals and ensure that the vials of Remdesivir drugs are actually put to use for treating Covid patients to their fullest extent, “without tampering with those vials.”
On the issue of oxygen supply in Nagpur district, the Bench noted, “As regards the supply of oxygen from Bhilai Plant, it appears that there is a problem being faced by the District administration of Akola. It is stated in the affidavit by the Divisional Commissioner, Amravati that for the present, there is disruption in regular supply of the allocated quota of oxygen to Akola district from Bhilai Plant. This quota is 10 metric tons every alternate day.”
But the court said that the supply from Bhilai Plant is going to be increased from April 28 as per the information received by the District Collector, Nagpur, and the situation regarding supply of allocated quota of oxygen to Akola district can be reviewed on the next date. In the meantime, the court has directed the Divisional Commissioner, Amravati to also look for alternate sources of supply of oxygen within the district of Akola or from nearby districts and place his suggestion in this regard before this Court so that specific directions can be issued.
The matter will be heard on April 29.
The order may be read here:
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