Punjab among 19 states, UTs allocated Remdesivir by Centre

Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 22

To meet the burgeoning challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre has allocated a supply of Remdesivir to 19 States and UTs beset with a “high burden” of cases.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said these allocations were “interim”, made for the period from April 21 to April 30, 2021, to further address reports of shortages in certain regions of the country.

“This initial allocation is dynamic and will be reviewed constantly in consultation with the States, to ensure all needs can be met within the available supplies,” Health Ministry said.

Remdesivir being an investigational therapy drug given in acute and severe COVID-19 cases, where oxygen support is a must, the allocations have been made to 14 states to which medical oxygen is allocated and 5 other states where the high volume of supplies are being observed.

Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are among the states in which medical Oxygen is allocated, and which have been supplied with Remdesivir.

The others are Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

The states where a high volume of supplies are observed are Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The allocation includes bulk purchases made by the States as well as supplies through private distribution channels.

All States not covered by the above-mentioned allocation will be considered for allocation when their supply orders are placed with the manufacturers.

Keeping in mind the sudden surge in demand in the country for Remdesivir, the manufacturing capacity of domestic Remdesivir manufacturers has been ramped up.

The production capacity is being ramped up from a current level of 38 lakh vials per month to 74 lakh vials per month, and 20 additional manufacturing sites have been approved.

To smoothen the supply chain, manufacturers have been mapped to the States concerned.

Control Room has been set up by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) which will be responsible for monitoring the operations as per the allocations.