New Delhi: Protest by a group of HIV-positive people alleging shortage of certain antiretroviral (ARV) drugs continues for almost a month, officials from the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) held a meeting with them and assured fresh supply of medicines.

The officials on Thursday claimed that fresh supplies were being expedited and airlifted to priority locations. However, the protestors said they will continue the dharna until “all HIV patients in India start receiving one month of medicines.”

They have been alleging complete unavailability of certain drugs, including those for children living with HIV, and random shifting to another class of drugs for most of the patients.

They say non-availability of drugs for the next few weeks could lead to serious complications.

Official sources said the officers have been in constant touch with the protestors from the day they launched the dharna at NACO’s Chanderlok office premises.

In the beginning, discussions were held with division heads of NACO and subsequently escalated to the next level-the director of NACO.

Particular efforts have been made to ensure safety of the protestors in terms of making available drinking water, electricity and basic amenities at the NACO office premises, a source said.

“In today’s meeting, the NACO director assured two representatives of significant improvements in the ARV fresh supplies that are being expedited and airlifted to priority locations.

“While the representatives acknowledged these improvements in stock availability and dispensation for one month, especially in Delhi and many other states, they continued to raise anecdotal issues of ‘stock-out’ of ARVs in few states as well as lay instances of patients not receiving drugs,” an official source said.

A protestor told PTI on Thursday, “We are protesting since July 21. Due to heat and outside food, people have started falling ill. We were here on August 15 like prisoners. Entire India was celebrating Independence Day but we were here. The building and the toilets were locked. We had to walk down to the ground floor for basic facilities. One thing that keeps us on our toes is the need of our brothers and sisters in the community.

“Today, we held a meeting with NACO officials and they assured us that every patient in Delhi has started receiving one month of ART. We were asked to call off the protest but we were firm and our response was very clear that we will continue our protest till all HIV patients in India start receiving one month of medicines,” he added.

NACO Additional Secretary and Director General Alok Saxena said the organisation will continue to hear voices of the community and that it believes in the culture of working in partnership with them to design and implement strategies outlined under the National AIDS Control Programme.

He urged the representatives to end the dharna, especially since their demand for ARV drug dispensation for at least one month at a time is met with. Also, he said, since NACO is a government office, protests during weekends will be non-productive.

He also appealed to the representatives to repose their faith in the system, end the protest and vacate the NACO premises, sources said.

“The focus has been on non-confrontational cooperative partnership. Community representatives are always included in meetings of technical resource groups and other consultations of NACO, prior to any major policy or programmatic decision,” the official source said.

“The director said once the protestors lift the dharna, NACO and People Living With HIV (PLHIV) networks can jointly evolve timelines so that the entire machinery is responsive and work is done to everyone’s satisfaction in a time-bound manner.

“Also, according to past practice, key members of the network volunteering to help in streamlining the systems to ensure seamless delivery of ARVs to PLHIV could come to NACO office and engage with officers,” the source said.

The dharna, however, is yet to be called off, he said.

Health ministry officials had earlier said there was enough stock of all ARV drugs at the state level and fresh supply orders for procurement of the next lot of several drugs had been placed.

Individual ART centres may have this issue at times, but the medicines are immediately relocated from nearby centres, they had said.

The government had recently told Lok Sabha that there is adequate stock of ARV medicines for around 95 per cent of people living with HIV in India.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Over a Month, People With HIV Continue Protest at NACO’s Office Alleging ARV Drug Shortage appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Mansukh Mandaviya, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, has provided state-wise details of prisoners vaccinated as on August 4, 2021. Only 22,345 prisoners have been fully vaccinated across all 37 states and Union Territories (UT). The Prison Statistics of India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2019 has revealed that a total of 4,78,600 prisoners have been confined in various jails across the country, as on December 31, 2019. Arguably, the number will be way higher taking into account all arrests made in the last one year.  

Out of the total 1,87,453 doses administered, only 1,65,108 prisoners have received their first shot. 15 states and UTs don’t have a single prisoner who is fully protected against Covid-19. They are-Andamans, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura. Shockingly, the National Capital has only 2 prisoners who have received their first shot!

Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of prisoners who have been fully inoculated (as of August 4, 2021) at 2,826, followed by Uttar Pradesh (2,789), Rajasthan (2,368), and Gujarat (2,237). Uttar Pradesh (24,230) has the highest number of prisoners who have received their first dose, followed by Maharashtra (21,868) and Bihar (17,626).

Mandaviya’s answer also read, “Covid-19 vaccination is an ongoing and dynamic process, which is being guided by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) on the basis of concurrent scientific evidence. It is expected that eligible beneficiaries aged 18 years and above, including prisoners, will be vaccinated by December 2021.”

Earlier during the budget session, the Home Affairs Ministry had failed to provide data about the number of prisoners who have tested positive for the virus and succumbed to it, reported SabrangIndia. Approximately 70 percent of Indian jails consist of undertrials, and despite orders from the Supreme Court to release inmates on interim bail to decongest prisons, a rough total of 1,92,125 undertrials have continued to languish in jails, against 1,38,416 inmates who have been released on parole/bail over the last one year.

The answer may be read here:

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The post 4.7 lakh prisoners, but only over 22,000 fully vaccinated! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the ongoing monsoon session, the Union Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha via a written answer that State Governments and Union Territories did not specifically report any deaths due to lack of oxygen and lack of hospital facilities during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Questions were asked by Rajya Sabha member M.V Shreyams Kumar on whether a large number of Covid-19 patients died on roads and hospitals due to acute shortage of oxygen in the second wave. The Health and Family Welfare Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya said, “Although Health is a state subject, Government of India has supported the states and undertook a series of action including further strengthening of existing health infrastructure to ensure provisioning of sufficient hospital beds, drugs, medical oxygen and other consumables to aid proper clinical care of Covid-19 patients.”

On the question of whether the Central Government has maintained data about the number of patients who died due to shortage of oxygen and lack of hospital facilities, the minister’s answer read, “Detailed guidelines for reporting of deaths have been issued by the Union Health Ministry to all states/UTs. Accordingly, all states/UTs report cases and deaths to the Union Health Ministry on a regular basis. However, states have at times reported backlog deaths in case of late reporting from hospitals and districts but, no such reports of patients dying due to shortage of oxygen and lack of hospital facilities in the country have been received by the Ministry from any State/UT.”

As per a report in The Wire, around 223 Covid-19 patients died due to a shortage of oxygen in May alone. The compiled database also listed another 70 deaths where families of patients alleged that the lack of oxygen was the factor, but was not confirmed by authorities. Apart from oxygen shortages, people died outside hospitals and clinics awaiting medical attention.

The second wave saw state courts taking suo motu cognisance of the situation and pulling up various governments for faltering in their Covid-19 management. According to a SabrangIndia report, Bihar was reeling under the Covid-19 crisis from dearth of oxygen supply, cylinders, long queues outside hospitals, hoarding, black marketing to police harassment. A local reporter told the publication that a man known to him died outside a hospital waiting for a ventilator.

Bhaisa Kund (Uttar Pradesh) cremation ground’s priest, KK Pandey, while speaking to SabrangIndia in April, had said that his sister-in-law might not survive due to oxygen shortage. He had said, “The primary issue in Lucknow is oxygen. There is an acute shortage. Her levels are dropping, we cannot do anything. We have kept her in the house, where will we take her. There is a big black market, one cylinder is worth thirty thousand, forty thousand, I cannot afford it.”

The second wave that hit India in April and May saw record breaking 4,00,000 cases per day and thousands of deaths. Many hospitals even sent SOS messages on social media about oxygen shortage in their Covid-19 wards. On April 23, Max Healthcare, a large hospital chain, reached out to authorities on social media, saying it was running out of oxygen supply. “Less than an hour’s oxygen supplies at Max Smart Hospital & Max Hospital Saket. Awaiting promised fresh supplies from INOX since 1 am. Over 700 patients admitted, need immediate assistance,” the hospital tweeted.

SOS – Less than an hour’s Oxygen supplies at Max Smart Hospital & Max Hospital Saket. Awaiting promised fresh supplies from INOX since 1 am. @drharshvardhan @msisodia @PMOIndia @ArvindKejriwal @PiyushGoyal @SatyendarJain over 700 patients admitted, need immediate assistance ??

— Max Healthcare (@MaxHealthcare) April 23, 2021

Some deaths due to shortage were also recorded from Jaipur Golden Hospital in Delhi. Hospitals like Maharaja Agrasen, Batra, Max had even moved the Delhi High Court citing lack of oxygen supply. Eight Covid patients including the gastroenterology department’s head died in Batra Hospital due to oxygen shortage today on May 1.

The answer may be read here: 

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Enough is enough: Delhi HC after 8 Covid patients dead due to oxygen shortage in Batra Hospital  

The post No Covid-19 deaths due to oxygen shortage reported by States/UTs: Centre in RS appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In order to tackle the pandemic better, the Health Ministry has issued new guidelines for peri-urban, rural and tribal areas that have been adversely affected by coronavirus. As the second wave has devastated the rural areas with no infrastructure, the central government has directed the states to set up a three-tier structure with oxygen beds and other important medical equipment like N-95 mask, triple layer medical mask, gloves, sanitisers, pulse oximeters, thermometers, disinfectants etc.

A lot of issues pertaining to under reporting of cases and deaths from rural areas have been doing the rounds since the second wave. Several state courts have taken stock of the grim situation issuing important directions to increase facilities and testing. Panic and fear have also set in after hundreds of bodies were seen floating in the Ganga and some in Yamuna. Remote areas of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat are complaining about lack of beds, oxygen, medicines, ventilators and medical staff.

As per Government data of December 2020, a total of 2,371 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) have been constructed against the sanctioned 2,941 centres. Out of the sanctioned 28,150 capacity of Sub Centres for health, only 21,249 have been completed, with no update about the remaining 6,901 centres.

Out of 175 District Hospitals, only 148 have been constructed. For renovation/upgradation purposes, the government aimed at 3,227 hospitals but only 2,407 hospitals have been completed. Out of the grand total 23,225 sub centres, merely 16,548 have been renovated. Only 159 Sub District Hospitals have been constructed against the target 242 hospitals. For renovation, only 1,011 SDHs could be finished as against 1,238 sanctioned ones.  

The Government’s plan of a three-tier structure involves:

1. Covid Care Centre (CCC) to manage mild/asymptomatic cases

2. Dedicated Covid Health Centre (DCHC) to manage moderate cases

3. Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) to manage severe cases

Peri-urban and rural areas have been directed to plan a minimum of 30-bedded CCCs that may be set up in schools, community halls, marriage halls, panchayat buildings in close proximity of hospitals/healthcare facilities, or tentage facilities in Panchayat land, school ground, etc. Qualified AYUSH doctors/Final year AYUSH students/Final year BSc nurses may be considered to run the CCCs.

Then, the Primary Health Centre/Community Health Centre/Sub District Hospital in these rural areas will be the Dedicated Covid Health Centre (DCHC) for management of moderate Covid cases. The facility may also have a capacity of 30 beds. A separate block of Primary and Community Health Centres shall be designated as DCHC with separate entry, exit and zoning. Private hospitals will also be designated as these DCHCs. The guidelines state that all districts should be prepared to increase DCHC beds as per the case trajectory and expected surge.

To treat severe cases of infection, District Hospitals, other identified private hospitals or a block of these hospitals shall be converted as the dedicated Covid Hospitals (DCH). In addition, Sub-district/Block level hospitals fulfilling the requirements may also be designated as the DCH for the identified CCC and DHCC in their catchment area.

For testing, the Central government’s plan states that Community Health Officers (CHOs) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) should be trained in performing rapid antigen testing. RAT kits should be provided at all public health facilities including Sub-centres/Health and Wellness Centres and Primary Health Centres.

Another response strategy adopted by the Centre for tribal areas include mobile medical units. As tribal areas pose additional challenges with minimum adequate facilities, the Central government has come up with the idea of Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) to facilitate access to public health care in tribal areas.

According to the data provided by the Health Ministry, as many as 479 out of 718 districts have reported a positivity rate above 10 percent. The actual numbers could be way higher. Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number of districts clocking above 10 percent positivity rate at 38 and Tamil Nadu at 37.

In Maharashtra, out of 36 districts, 33 have been reporting over 10 per cent positivity rate and Karnataka has reported 30 districts. States like Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have reported 27 and 14 districts respectively. The infection rate has also soared in West Bengal with 23 districts affected and Assam with 24 districts. Rajasthan also has 27 districts with similar infection rate.

Other States data is as follows:

The new guidelines of the Health Ministry may be read here.

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Death due to lack of timely medical aid is a violation of right to life: Patna HC
Around 140 bodies found in river Ganga, officials yet to confirm them as Covid deaths

The post Nearly 500 districts record soaring Covid positivity rate, Centre draws up three tier structure appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While the Health Ministry has stated that “India has demonstrated a consistent rise in the Covid-19 testing infrastructure since Jan 2020,” it is important to note that India has recorded over 80 lakh Covid-19 cases now. 

On Thursday there was a spike of 14 percent with over 49,881 new cases being recorded, taking the total tally part 80 lakh or 8 million. The number of Covid-19 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours is 517, taking the total fatalities to 1,20,527. The fatality rate though has now reduced to 1.49 percent.

According to the Union Health Ministry there is good news as far as national recovery rate is concerned, and it stands at  90.99 per cent, with 73.15 lakh patients reported to have recovered from the infection. However, one cannot ignore that even now, there are 6,03,687 active Covid-19 of cases across the country.

Delhi has been recording a high surge in new infections once again. Over 4,000 cases in a day have been reported from Delhi for the past few days, it is almost 7.5 per cent of the total national caseload. As the festive season begins across the country, and as temperatures, wind speeds dip in in various parts the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday announced they had reviewed the situation in West Bengal, Delhi and Kerala, and advised that the states and Union Territories (UTs) gear up “testing, tracking & treatment’ during the festival season.

#IndiaFightsCorona:

79% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs.

Maharashtra has contributed the maximum with more than 8,000 single day recoveries followed by Kerala with more than 7,000 recoveries.#StaySafe #IndiaWillWin pic.twitter.com/11JYllYQ6j

— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) October 29, 2020

The review was conducted by Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary via video Conferencing today, along with Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR and participants included Health Secretaries from the concerced states/UT, along with senior health department. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) had raised concerns regarding rising cases in these areas.

Delhi has 29,378 active cases and rising, a fatality Rate of 1.76% and a positivity rate of 7.9%. After 5,673 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. This is a rise of nearly 46% in a month. According to the health department representatives from Delhi this was due to “social gatherings during the festivities, deteriorating air quality, increasing incidences of respiratory disorders, and clusters of positive cases at work places”. 

The Centre has told the Delhi government to “ramp up testing, increase RT-PCR tests, focus on contact tracing and effectively enforce isolation of the traced contacts within the first 72 hours”. It was advised to focus on “containment zones, and strict perimeter control to be implemented as per MHA guidelines. Give additional thrust to IEC practices and proactively promote wearing of masks and other COVID appropriate behaviours.”  

West Bengal has 37,111 active cases as of Thursday, a Case Fatality Rate of 1.84% and the positivity rate is 8.3% with over 3,924 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours. There has been an average daily increase of  23% in the last four weeks. According to the MoHFW, “Darjeeling, Nadia, Medinipur West, Jalpaiguri, Hooghly are the top districts showing an increasing trend in cases. Whereas, Murshidabad, Nadia, Coochbehar, Kolkata and Darjeeling have registered an increase in the weekly deaths last week.” West Bengal’s tests per million population (TPM) stand at 41,261, against the national TPM of 77,220. West Bengal health authorities were advised “not to compromise on testing and keep the level of daily tests at a higher level with greater proportion of RT-PCR tests.” The state was asked to ensure “early identification, and early hospitalisation” and to focus on rapid contact tracing, and quick isolation of contacts.

Kerala too is recording a rise with 93,369 total active Covid-19 cases, “average daily cases have recorded 11% increase over the last four weeks. The number of new cases in the last 14 days is 98,778. In the last 24 hours, Kerala has registered the maximum number of new cases with  8,790 cases,” stated the MoHFW. Thrissur, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram are the districts showing maximum increase in cases. However the state’s fatality rate is low at 0.34% “Tests per million of the population are 66,755 and the positivity rate is at a significantly high level of 16.5%. The positivity rate has registered a 41% increase over the last four weeks,” stated the ministry which asked the Kerala government to “ramp up IEC practices and promote mask wearing with more rigour”. 

https://www.mohfw.gov.in

Out of  the 49,881 new confirmed coronavirus cases recorded in the last 24 hours, about 79 per cent of the new cases are from 10 States and UTs. After Kerala’s high number of over 8,000 cases, comes Maharashtra with more than 6,000 cases, then Delhi with 5,673 cases followed by West Bengal at 3,924 cases.

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The post India’s Covid-19 tally so far: 80 lakh and counting! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

There is now official confirmation that India has logged over 36,21,245 total Covid-19  cases, even as around 27,74,801 cases have recovered. This is a massive number that should have sent alarm bells ringing in the Health Ministry. However, no signs of urgency are being reported yet, and Covid-19 updates are shared as usual. Not much is being shared on plans to contain the spread, which even to a lay person, seems to be on the rise as the latest unlock opens more venues, and modes of transport in cities.

Official Covid-19 trackers continue to highlight the recovered cases, more than they do new infections. This is perhaps done to dissuade panic. However, it also seems to be falsely letting people believe that the situation was getting better. Improper usage, or non usage of masks, and lack of social distancing, is on the rise across the cities. 

?#CoronaVirusUpdates:

?#COVID19 India Tracker
(As on 01 September, 2020, 08:00 AM)

Confirmed cases: 36,91,166
Recovered: 28,39,882 (76.9%)?
Active cases: 7,85,996 (21.3%)
Deaths: 65,288 (1.8%)#IndiaFightsCorona#IndiaWillWin#StaySafe

Via @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/eblv2xskqK

— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) September 1, 2020

Now experts have also weighed in as warned that one must “avoid false hope on coronavirus vaccine, discontinue lockdown,” reports the India Today.

A Joint Task Force of eminent public health experts have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that “it must be assumed that an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus would not be available in the near future’.” They also warned that “any false sense of hope that this panacea is just around the corner must be avoided.” A statement was issued by the experts from the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA), Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM), and Indian Association of Epidemiologists (IAE). They stated that, “Vaccines do not have any role in current ongoing coronavirus pandemic control in India. It must be assumed that an effective vaccine would not be available in the near future. We must avoid a false sense of hope that this panacea is just around the corner.”

India Today report adds that this is the third joint statement made by the experts who put on record that, “Vaccines with proven efficacy and safety, as and when available, should be administered according to the WHO’s ‘strategic allocation’ approach or a multi-tiered risk-based approach.” They have also added that a “lockdown as a strategy for control should be discontinued.”

Even though there has been no admission of any community transmission of Covid-19, by ICMR or the health ministry, this task force has stated that “cluster restrictions should be considered only in areas with no community transmission.”

It has also listed “action plans” for the government to enact as the Coronavirus infection has now reached rural areas across the country. India has once again recorded a surge in Covid-19 cases, over 80,000 new cases were reported on Monday. This is already the highest in the world as far as single-day cases are concerned. 

According to the India Today report, “Lockdown as a strategy for control should be discontinued” and “geographically limited restrictions for short periods may be imposed in epidemiologically defined clusters. Cluster restrictions should be considered only in areas with no community transmission.” The focus, the experts state “should be to prevent deaths from coronavirus and not on containing the infection.”

They reiterate that the “Vaccine has no role in current ongoing pandemic control. However, whenever available, the vaccine may play a role in providing personal protection to high-risk individuals like HCWs and the elderly with co-morbidities.” The experts have also noted that “Quarantine and Isolation Policy  should be community-friendly. The present policies, where houses of all persons who test positive, are stamped, isolated by barricades, is creating fear in society,” stated the news report adding that the experts suggest, “This practice should be abandoned immediately.”

The government meanwhile, has stated that the Health Ministry will “rush Central teams to UP, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha” as these states “are seeing a sudden surge in the number of COVID cases and some of them are also reporting high mortality.  The teams will support the State efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of the positive cases. They shall also guide the States in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up.”

The Central Government has been deputing Central teams “from time to time to visit various States to interact with the authorities and get a first hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them so as to strengthen their ongoing activities and remove bottlenecks, if any.” 

.@MoHFW_INDIA has decided to deploy high level Central teams to four States of #UttarPradesh, #Jharkhand, #Chhattisgarh & #Odisha. These States are seeing a sudden surge in the number of #COVID cases & some of them are also reporting high mortality.@PMOIndia #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/bjqUzEB6AW

— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) September 1, 2020

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued new guidelines on August 29 for opening up of more activities in areas outside the Containment Zones. Unlock 4, comes into effect from September 1. Some allowances include reopening Metro rail services from September 7, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs/ Ministry of Railways, in consultation with MHA. Social/ academic/ sports/ entertainment/ cultural/ religious/ political functions and other congregations will be permitted with a ceiling of 100 persons, with effect from September 21. However, such gatherings must have “mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing, provision for thermal scanning and hand wash or sanitizer.” Open air theatres will be permitted to open with effect from September 21. 

However, “schools, colleges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to September 30.” 

It is crucial to note that the government data confirms that states states like Karnataka “crossed the 1-lakh mark and stood at 1,00,941 patients” and Andhra Pradesh “reported over 10,000 cases for the fifth straight day,” on Sunday “its tally of 4.24 lakh saw it go past Tamil Nadu to the second spot behind Maharashtra in the overall infection count.” In Maharashtra, “a committee comprising Vice Chancellors and education experts in Maharashtra has been tasked to prepare timetable for conducting the final semester / year examinations as directed by the University Grants Commission.” The official information continues to hint at the situation being under control, even though global experts have begun warning of tough days ahead. 

Social scientist, economist Jean Drèze in his recent article for the Scientific American has noted that “India Is in denial about the Covid-19 crisis”. He has noted that the number of “recorded cases in India are likely to be a small fraction of all Covid-19 infections.” He highlights that the “ratio of infections to recorded cases seems particularly large in India—at least 20:1, judging from two recent serological surveys, in Delhi and Mumbai respectively. This would mean that India already had more than 50 million Covid-19 infections, compared with a recorded figure of 2.5 million.”

The silver lining he stated was that, “for reasons that are as yet unclear, Covid-19  mortality in India seems relatively low. The same surveys suggest that the infection-fatality rate (IFR) may be as low as one per thousand. If so, India may not be heading towards a major mortality crisis, or rather a major crisis of Covid-19 mortality, at least relative to normal levels of mortality. Covid-19 deaths so far add up to less than 1 percent of annual deaths from all causes in India.” 

However he too has warned that now, with “tax revenue a fraction of normal levels, state governments are finding it difficult to provide more than symbolic relief” to the poor, and “the central government is doing little to help them”. He points out that after the initial Central Government’s “relief measures during the national lockdown, such as free food-grain rations of five kilograms per person per month for two thirds of India’s population”, it now “seems to have lost interest and left it to the state governments to handle the crisis.” 

He states that the “Since Covid-19 has a recovery rate of more than 99 percent in India.In its hurry to turn India into a viswaguru (world leader), the Modi government seems to have little patience for a humanitarian crisis. Yet denying a crisis is the surest way to make it worse.”

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The post India now has over 3.69 million Covid-19 cases appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As per the guidelines for the testing of Covid-19 in private laboratories issued by the Union Health Ministry, matters for Indian manufacturers may get complicated given that only United State Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) or European Conformitè Europëenne (CE) have been mandated for use.

The guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare state that “commercial kits for real-time PCR based diagnosis of Covid-19 should be USFDA approved or European CE certified, or both, for in vitro diagnosis of Covid-19 under emergency use.” The guidelines exclude all the kits, like the low-cost one developed by IIT-Delhi, currently being tested at the National Institute of Virology, Pune (NIV).

With the shutdown of exports, a shortage of testing kits was inevitable but it was expected that once Indian companies got their test kids validated, they could start manufacturing and supplying the kits to private labs to amplify testing.

Whatever happened to Make in India?

Now, companies trying to get their test kits validated have questioned the government’s move asking why the Drug Controller of India (DGCI) which confirmed the government’s guidelines, even issued test licenses to Indian companies if they were only going to allow certain certifications.

A lab owner told The Times of India, “Where will labs get USFDA or CE approved kits overnight when most countries are not allowing exports? This would mean that even Chinese and South Korean kits, if imported, cannot be used.”

An owner from another company said, “Why did the DGCI issue test licenses to Indian companies so that they can get their test kits validated, if they were going to allow only USFDA-approved or CE-certified tests? It’s a totally crazy move. Why is NIV working to validate the tests if they cannot be sold in India?”

Veena Kohli from the Association of Diagnostic Manufacturers of India has expressed her displeasure over the move and said she would be writing to the Central government against these guidelines. She said, “A lot of effort and R&D had gone into developing these kits in record time and our companies must be given to prove the quality and reliability of their test kits.”

Rajiv Nath of AiMed told TOI, “It is disheartening that the health ministry endorses overseas regulatory approvals as a means of qualification while keeping out Indian manufacturers instead of respecting India’s own regulatory processes.”

TOI reported that NIV had finished validating Indian test kits and had submitted the results to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The ICMR has approved six private laboratories for Covid-19 testing. Four of the labs are in Maharashtra and one each is in Karnataka and Gujarat. The laboratories approved are Thyrocare, Suburban Diagnostics, Metropolis Healthcare and HN Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre, Newberg Anand Reference Laboratory and Unipath Specialty Laboratory. The ICMR has mandated that the costs of tests at private laboratories must not be above Rs. 4,500, which is a whopping amount.

Speaking to The News Minute about the guidelines Dr. A Velumani, MD, CEO and Chairman of Thyrocare which is importing its testing kits from Altona, a German brand said that the inadequate supply of test kits poses a challenge for private labs. The guidelines he says “limits the number of players and creates a monopoly which increases costs”.

The curious case of CoSara 

Meanwhile, it has come to light that there is only USFDA-approved manufacturer, an Ahmedabad-based company called CoSara Diagnostics which has an association with a US firm, CoDiagnostics. However, the issuance of the guidelines and the approval to CoSara point out to a deeper conspiracy during this crisis. The prices of the 18 companies chosen to get their test kits validated were to be between Rs. 400 – 500. CoSara, which had already received approval for the manufacturing of the kits a day before the 18 firms were chosen, refused to divulge the cost of its kits, but the same is said to be between Rs. 1,000 – 1,200.

There’s something VERY FISHY going on with Covid-19 testing kits in India. Prima facie, it reeks of corruption & favoritism in a pandemic.

Thread ?

On 20th March, 18 firms got permission from govt. to get their testing kits validated by National Institute of Virology.

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— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) March 23, 2020

Given this scenario, will the 18 companies who are NIV validated but not USFDA or EU-CE approved be allowed to manufacture test kits? Or will CoSara diagnostics in Ahmedabad enjoy monopoly, displaying the corruption and partiality thus delaying mass testing and putting the life of the common man in further danger than it already is?

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Niti Aayog and the Union ministry for health and family welfare have proposed a model contract to increase the role of private hospitals in treating non-communicable diseases in urban India, according to an exclusive report published on Scroll.

The proposed contract which has been circulated to the states for their comments proposes 30 year lease arrangements with private hospitals allowing them to share parts of existing district hospital facilities and also to make land available to set up 50- to 100-bed hospitals in towns other than the eight largest metropolises.
The proposed contract envisages the private hospitals to provide secondary and tertiary medical treatment for cancer, heart diseases and respiratory tract ailments. For patients covered by government insurance schemes, the private hospitals will charge according to government approved rates while other patients will be charged at “full rates”.

The district government hospital will be expected to share its ambulance services, blood blank, physiotherapy services, bio-medical waste disposal system, mortuary services, parking facilities, electricity load, in-patient payment counters and hospital security with the private enterprise running out of its campus, the contract say.  
Since health as a subject falls under the purview of state governments, the Centre sees its role as limited to providing a template that interested state governments may adopt.

The issue of how much space the state should cede to private health service providers has been a contentious issue within the BJP-led government at the Centre. According to the Scroll report,  the first draft  of the National Health Policy prepared by the health ministry’s steering committee in 2015 had advocated higher government investment on public health. It saw the private sector playing a limited role for a limited period and advocated a free universal public health system. The Niti Ayog however argued that the idea of free health care was a “chimera” given the budgetary and manpower constraints of the government.

The issue of the role if any of the private sector in the field of public health was a contentious issue during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government too.

Read the full report on Scroll.
 

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Image Courtesy: Rebel Politik
 

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