AHMEDABAD: There was much relief to Covid patients who were being treated under home quarantine as remdesivir injections were made available through Ahmedabad Hospitals & Nursing Homes Association (AHNA). But not anymore.
Since Monday, AHNA has stopped receiving the stock of remdesivir, an anti-viral drug. So anxiety confronts Covid patients under home quarantine who are looking for remdesivir injections.
“The last stock of the injections was received on Sunday. After that we have not been given a single vial,” said Dr Bharat Gadhvi, president, AHNA. “The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has not supplied injections to AHNA citing a shortage.”
Dr Gadhvi said that ideally AHNA should be made the nodal agency for distributing remdesivir to home-quarantined patients.
Mukesh Kumar, the municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad, said: “Guidelines of the WHO for the usage of remdesivir are very clear and must be followed.” He went on to say: “As laid out in the guidelines, the patients should not be at home but at hospital. We have settled the issue with AHNA about the new guidelines.”
Meanwhile, the shortage of remdesivir prevailed, affecting patients who are at hospitals as well as those who are under home quarantine. “The demand is at least 10-fold of the stock we’re receiving and we are compelled to turn people away or to ask them to inquire the next day,” said Jaivik Shah, partner at a specialty medicine stockist. “Not enough stock of remdesivir is being moved for trade supply.”