Remdesivir will be sold directly to pvt hospitals: CM

Decision will benefit patients who genuinely require the drug

Alarmed at crowds thronging venues where Remdesivir is being sold in violation of all COVID safety protocols, the State government decided to sell the drug directly to private hospitals from Tuesday.

Making the announcement on Sunday, Chief Minister MK Stalin said, “An online facility to register the details of patients undergoing treatment using oxygen in private hospitals will be made from Tuesday and the private hospitals, after updating the requirements of Remdesivir, will be allotted the drug.”

Representatives of private hospitals can go directly to the allotted centre and get the drug. The decision will benefit patients who genuinely require the drug and will be sold at the price in which it is sold by government, the Chief Minister added. “When the medicine is sold directly through private hospitals there will be no illegal sale of Remdesivir. However, the Health Department will constantly monitor whether only eligible patients are given Remdesivir and that it is sold at the same price as sold by the government,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Stalin held a meeting with Health Minister M Subramanian, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and top officials in which the officials suggested directed sale of Remdesivir in private hospitals.

Meanwhile, health experts continue to remain sceptical on the effectiveness of the anti-viral drug that sells for hefty sums in the black market. Talking of the case management protocol in Tamil Nadu, Dr P Vasanthamani, dean of Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital said that if other anti-viral drugs and standard treatment for COVID patients do not work even after 48 hours of treatment, Remdesivir is recommended. “It is important to note that the drug is not recommended for patients with mild symptoms or asymptomatic cases, but for those with about 50 percent of the lung infection. However, for patients where lung involvement is more than 70-80 percent and infection has been there for more than 5-7 days, the damage is already done and Remdesivir is not effective,” said Dr P Vasanthamani.

But, experts point out that the drug is not effective in all cases and does not even find a place in the case management protocol by the state.

“Remdesivir was developed to treat Hepatitis C. The antiviral drug was approved for the treatment of COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation for treatment of sars-cov-2,” said Emergency Physician at the Tiruchy Government Hospital Dr A Mohamed Hakkim.

“Remdesivir is given in the initial replicative stage and it is effective in the first few days of the infection. However, due to ignorance and lack of awareness, most of the patients do not reach the hospitals on time and also remain unclear on the history of symptoms. This leads to mismanagement,” said Dr K Shanmuganandan, Immunologist and Professor of General Medicine at Dr Rela Hospital.

“The current hype over Remdesivir and black-market price of the said drug is unwarranted,” added Dr Hakkim.