Bokaro faces medicine crunch, prices skyrocket amid Cov surge

Bokaro: Bokaro residents were facing a shortage of medicines essential for treating Covid patients. The problem has become acute, especially in the rural parts of the district. In the city, pulse oximeters were being sold at twice their maximum retail prices as many pharmacies have run out of stock.
“The oximeters, which are priced at Rs 1,500 a piece, are now being sold at Rs 3,600 and above. But since stocks have thinned, there is no other choice but to pay hefty amounts,” Manoj Kumar, a Sector-2 resident, said.
Dinesh Agarwal, a local, said: “Tablets like B Complex, Vitamin C and Zinc capsules are missing from many drug stores. Most of them are saying that the supplies are not sufficient to meet the growing demands of Paracetamol, Azithromycin, Zincovit and other drugs as well.”
“You cannot get all the drugs in one store and will have to invariably hop three to four shops,” Sujit Singh, a local, said.
Druggists were attributing the lack of stock to panic buying. “With Covid-19 cases rising in the second wave, residents have purchased the medicines in large quantities and stocked them in their homes,” Brajesh Pandey, the owner of Baba Medical Center in Sector 4, said.
Umesh Singh, a wholesaler of medicine, said: “At present, the supply of most of the medicines is less. In addition to general medicines, flow metres, steam dispensers and nebulizers are very much in demand. Many of the suppliers and their staff have also been infected. Due to this also the supply chain has been affected.”
The district administration has directed the drug inspectors to ensure availability of medicines at the stores. Till Friday evening, the district recorded 13,942 Covid cases, of which 3,005 were active.