Indore faces shortage of Remdesivir, oxygen supplies

Madhya Pradesh's Indore is facing a shortage of Remdesivir injection and oxygen supplies due to an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Consumers have alleged black-marketing of these medicines while the district administration spoke about possible price regulations.

People said they are being charged Rs 2,000 to 2,500 instead of Rs 899 for Remdesivir.

"The way coronavirus cases are growing in the city, about 5,000 injections are required on daily basis, but barely 1,500 are available for the people. That is why the market is witnessing a shortage of the product. These injections come from Maharashtra and Gujarat, and since the cases are increasing there too, we are getting less supply," said Dharmendra Kothari, a Remdesivir injection seller told .

He also said that even compes like Zydus, Cipla, Hetro are unable to fullfil the demands for the product.

Chemist Association Chief Vinay Bakliwal said that apart from Indore, people from nearby cities also come in the drug market. This is one of the reasons why these injections are in short supply.

District collector Msh Singh claimed that Maharashtra government has stopped the supply since the COVID cases are increasing and they also need it in the state.

"We are facing the shortage of Remdesivir as the demand for injection is more in Gujarat and Maharashtra due to the rising cases. Maharashtra has a manufacturing company. The state government has stopped the supply. So we are facing a problem. Today we received some medicines which are being supplied across the city. We also get the oxygen from Maharashtra, and we are facing the oxygen shortage as well. The government stopped oxygen supply as well," said Msh Singh.

With the surge of Covid-19 cases, the city on Tuesday reported a nearly 15 per cent positivity rate.

Speaking to , Dr Amit Malakar, District Covid-19 Nodal Officer said, "The positivity rate of Covid is nearing 15 per cent. In March 2021, only a total of 9,913 patients were found Corona positive in Indore district, whereas 29 people died in the same month of March. In March 2020, however, there were a total of 46 cases found with no deaths."

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday chaired a high-level review meeting with Health Ministers, Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries (Health) of States/UTs of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan.These states have been reporting a very high rise in daily cases and daily mortality because of COVID-19 in the last two weeks.

( With inputs from ANI )