Relatives of COVID-19 patients in Gorakhpur wait for hours for Remdesivir

Amid the shortage of Remdesivir, relatives of COVID-19 patients in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district have been forced to gather in large number outside government dispensaries and wait for days for the anti-viral drug.

A relative of a COVID-19 patient, Abhay, who has been coming to the dispensary for the last four days, said that there was complete chaos at the dispensary and no one was following social distancing norms.

"I have been coming here for the last four days. My patient is on the verge of death and it feels like I am too. We were told by government officials that we can get a token but they didn't tell us how or where to get it," Abhay told ANI.

He added, "Many of us have waited for 10-12 hours. There is complete chaos because everyone needs the medicine desperately. How are we expected to maintain social distancing?"

A relative of another patient Shailendra Singh suggested that a government official should sit at the dispensary to ensure proper distribution and order.

"The government should give everyone a number. People should not just come and go however they want. There is no social distancing at all. This is very shameful for the people and the government. At least the people who don't haven't contracted COVID-19 yet should be safe. A government official should sit here and distribute in an orderly manner," Singh said.

Another visibly exhausted relative Abhishek Kumar said he had waited all night but still could not get the injection as there was no proper system for who would get the vaccine and when.

The weekend lockdown in the state has been increased to another three days by the state government, thus adding further to the woes of the people.

According to an order issued by the state government on Thursday, the weekend lockdown in the state will now be in place from Friday night till Tuesday morning. Earlier, it was from Friday night to Monday morning.

As per the ministry, Uttar Pradesh is among the eleven states that cumulatively account for 78.26 per cent of India's total active cases. The state currently has 3,00,041 active COVID-19 cases.

( With inputs from ANI )