JAIPUR: With rapid surge in active cases in the city, the demand for remdesivir injection has increased manifold. On Sunday, attendants of patients admitted to private hospitals were running from pillar-to-post to get the dose, but all their efforts went in vain.
Even doctors are not unable to get it for their relatives. A 90-year-old ophthalmologist Dr O P Kulshreshtha, former head of the department, ophthalmology, SMS hospital, is undergoing treatment for Covid at a private hospital near JK Lon hospital in Jaipur. Expressing helplessness, the hospital told his doctor son that remdesivir is not available in the hospital, following which the injection was searched for him, but all efforts went in vain. A doctor at the hospital told TOI, Dr Kulshreshtha needs remdesivir, but it is not available. “We have tried to find it, but we are not getting it from anywhere,” said the doctor.
Private hospitals are asking attendants to get remdesivir for their patients. An attendant of a patient admitted to a private hospital in Vidhyadhar Nagar said, “We have tried all the sources to buy remdesivir. We called health department and also tried from private sellers, but to no avail. We are ready to pay more than double the price, but we are not getting it.”
The private hospital’s body, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Society (PHNHS) claimed that the situation is really bad. “We are receiving calls for remdesivir/tocilizumab requirement for doctors and their families, but just not able to help,” said Dr Vijay Kapoor, secretary, PHNHS.
He said that Dr Kulshreshtha has served patients at SMS hospital, but it is unfortunate that remdesivir is not available.
At a Covid-19 review meeting, health minister Raghu Sharma raised the issue of remdesivir saying, “Medicine, oxygen and vaccines for Covid are all controlled by the Centre. If we raise the issue they will say we are doing politics.”