Need more anti-viral drugs and ventilators in Maha, CM tells PM

MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, while on Wednesday thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the resumption of local train services for frontline workers in Mumbai, demanded more ventilators and drugs like remdesivir and tocilizumab for the effective treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Thackeray, who participated in the sixth video conference on the Covid-19 pandemic with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, requested the latter for these drugs at reasonable prices.

He said that the state has an adequate stock of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits and N-95 masks, but it needs more ventilators, especially for rural areas.

State health minister Rajesh Tope said, “We have demanded supply of remdesivir and tocilizumab by the Centre at reasonable prices. We have been administering these drugs to some patients on compassionate grounds with permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). We have requested that the Centre make them available for all patients at reasonable prices. We have also demanded for the supply of 500 ventilators for Mumbai and other parts of the state. Maharashtra has adequate number of other beds, but we lag in ICU beds with ventilators.”

Thackeray apprised the PM with the steps taken by the state government in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and also told him how Maharashtra has struck a balance between the lockdown norms and rolling out economic activities.

The Maharashtra CM also said that its “chase the virus” policy has helped in containing the spread in many hotspots, including Dharavi in Mumbai.

Data shows the state is getting more than 2,000 cases daily since May 17, when the number of fresh cases breached the 2,000-mark for the first time.

Soon, another grim milestone of 3,000 cases a day was crossed — May 24 (3,041 cases), June 7 (3,007), June 10 (3,254), June 11 (3,607), June 12 (3,493), June 13 (3,427) and June 14 (3,390). In the past 31 days (from May 17), the state has recorded 86,216 cases, an average of 2,694 cases a day.

By the end of May, the state has successfully brought down the case fatality rate to 3.26% from 7.41% (with 148 deaths) on April 13. But it has started rising again. On Tuesday, it jumped to 4.8% from 3.7% (on Monday) as 1,409 deaths were added to its toll. This includes reconciliation of 1,328 past fatalities and 81 deaths reported in the previous 24 hours.

The highest single-day toll was recorded on June 15 (178 deaths).