Maharashtra: High Court raps officers for not complying with Remdesivir order

UPSET WITH non-compliance with its April 19 order to produce 10,000 Remdesivir injections to Nagpur by 8 pm on that day, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday pulled up senior officers over the problem throughout the course of three hearings which started within the afternoon and prolonged until round 10.30 pm.
The bench comprising Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Avinash Gharote summoned high officers, together with Divisional Commissioner Sanjiv Kumar, Nagpur Collector Ravindra Thakre, Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B and Joint Commissioner Vijay Kose throughout the course of the hearings.
The bench started the primary listening to round 2.30 pm with Justice Shukre admonishing the officers for not supplying the requisite amount of Remdesivir as earlier directed by the bench. It postpone the listening to in lower than half-hour, asking the officers to provide you with correct rationalization and information at 4 pm.
The second listening to went on for about an hour. Apparently dissatisfied with the response, the bench adjourned the listening to once more and requested the officers to instantly convene a gathering of the district Covid committee below the Divisional Commissioner and are available out with clear details about the availability of the antiviral drug and its sources. The bench requested the officers to come back to the courtroom once more at 8 pm and place earlier than it solutions to the questions raised by it.
The third listening to lasted until round 10.30 pm throughout which the bench mentioned the problems with officers and issued a course to the Drug Controller of India to affix the following listening to on Friday for his model on drug availability.
In a uncommon departure, the courtroom issued two orders within the day, first after the second listening to and the second after the third listening to at evening. In the primary order, the bench noticed, “We have had an extensive hearing of this matter. However, so far no concrete solution could be found regarding deficiency in supply of Remdesivir drug and also oxygen to Covid hospitals in the city of Nagpur as well as in all the hospitals situated in the entire Vidarbha region.”
“It has been informed to the Court by Mr Kose, Joint Commissioner, FDA that there are seven manufacturers of the said drug and these companies send stock of Remdesivir to their depots situated at Nagpur and from these depots, the drug is supplied all over Vidarbha region as per requirements. It is informed by him that the problem has arisen owing to the fact that there is shortage in supply of these drugs by the manufacturers and therefore, there is also shortage in making available these drugs to all the Covid hospitals.”
“We had issued directions to the state on April 19 to release 10,000 vials of Remdesivir to Nagpur immediately. But only partially this direction has been complied with. Several reasons are given for non-compliance. On perusal of the affidavits filed by the Joint Commissioner, FDA and the Additional Collector, Nagpur, we find that contradictory statements are made therein. We also find that these officers have now started to shirk their responsibilities in giving succour and relief to Covid-19 patients,” the courtroom noticed.
“However, at this juncture, we would not like to pass any further order in the matter and we would like to give an opportunity to the authorities at the helm of affairs to correct themselves. Accordingly, we would request Nagpur Covid-19 committee to hold an emergency meeting immediately today itself and come back to the court with some positive response. This court would not be satisfied with mere supply of outcome of the meeting,” the bench mentioned.

After the third listening to, in its second order of the day, the bench , “The country’s seven Remdesivir producing companies manufacture 88 lakh injections per month, which should be sufficient for the country. We direct the Drug Controller of India to appear before us physically or virtually and apprise this court of the steps taken by him to ensure proper supply of this drug to the entire nation and to provide unnecessary hoarding of this drug.”
On Monday, listening to a suo motu PIL, the courtroom had mentioned that there appeared to be no rationale governing the distribution of Remdesevir to totally different centres and had particularly referred to Thane district getting proportionately a lot increased variety of doses than Nagpur district regardless of the latter having over 8,000 beds.
On Wednesday, the bench additionally expressed displeasure on the problem of oxygen provide. “Coming to the issue of supply of oxygen, the scenario is once again disappointing. According to figures, the total requirement of oxygen in Nagpur is 166.5 metric tonnes and other districts of Vidarbha region is 66 metric tonnes. We have been informed that Nagpur has certain oxygen generating units and their total capacity is 146 metric tonnes per day.”

The courtroom additionally took be aware of the truth that provide of liquid oxygen from the Bhilai Steel Plant had lowered. “Things have turned in a reverse manner. Instead of increasing the supply of liquid oxygen, the supply has been decreased. There is dire need of oxygen in Maharashtra. The earlier practice of supply of 110 metric tonnes shall continue even now,” it mentioned.
Referring to some personal hospitals in Nagpur refusing to take sufferers because of lack of oxygen, the bench mentioned, “There must be no lack of oxygen provide to hospitals in Nagpur. If any hospital runs low then they shall deliver it to the discover of the Joint Commissioner, FDA Nagpur, Divisional Commissioner Nagpur and Nagpur Covid-19 committee.