Plea in HC seeks audit of Covid cases, deaths

Claiming that Covid-19 data provided by govt is fudged, activist files application in HC; seeks availability of life-saving drugs at regulated price

Amid allegations of data of Covid-19 positive persons and deaths in state being fudged, an application has been filed in Gujarat High Court seeking to conduct an audit about facts and figures of corona positive patients and deaths through an independent chartered accountant by submitting all details to the high court.

The application also sought availability of life-saving drugs such as remdesivir, favipiravir and tocilizumab at controlled price. A demand was also made for appointment of a high level inquiry commission to look into the fake injection racket busted in Surat and Ahmedabad recently.

Activist Vishwas Bhamburkar who filed the petition through his lawyer Parth Contractor has requested the court to implead him as party respondent in the ongoing suo motu proceedings initiated by the HC over issues relating to Covid-19 in the state. “The plea is likely to come up for hearing on Friday when the court will hear the suo motu and other allied matters,” Contractor told Mirror.

“Not only is there a serious lack of testing, but policies of the government authorities appear clearly to discourage testing. The data of the total number of patients detected with Covid-19, discharged and the deaths on a daily basis, provided by the authorities do not appear to reconcile with the actual situation in the state and particularly in Ahmedabad,” the plea stated. “There is artificial shortage and black-marketeering of life-saving drugs such as remdesivir, favipiravir and tocilizumab. The State is not inclined to freely permit citizens to get tested. This restriction is violative of Article 21of the Constitution of India,” the plea stated.

It alleges that data provided by the authorities is ‘fudged’ and highly inaccurate. Citing his own survey, the petitioner has claimed that there are at least 2,750 persons who have tested positive on a daily basis. The petition has also alleged that Gujarat is among states conducting the lowest number of Covid tests. Ahmedabad Medical Association has also filed a petition seeking directions to enhance testing in the state.


77 tocilizumab injections in stock: State govt
The Gujarat government currently has a stock of 77 tocilizumab injections, it told the High Court in response to a PIL. It added that it has placed an order for 4,597 injections. It has supplied 2320 injections—2,243 to government and semi-government hospitals and remaining 77 injections in the central store of GMSCL. The government further stated that it cannot cap the price of tocilizumab as it is imported and the authority to do so lies with the Drug Controller General of India. The HC will hear the matter on Friday.