The Punjab Food & Drug Administration has established the ‘Remdesivir Injection Monitoring Centre’ at the Head Office to stop black marketing, a statement said on Saturday.
Health Minister Balbir Sidhu urged the people not to panic to buy Remdesivir Injection at high prices as the Health department has sufficient stock in its warehouses.
Expressing grave concern over the black marketing and hoarding of COVID related drugs, the Health Minister said that he directed the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Punjab to take stringent action against the Wholesalers, Distributors and Retailers if anyone found doing such activities. The Minister said that Punjab Government has made it mandatory to mention the name of patient and IPD number on the vial so that the FDA’s teams can easily verify the empty vial to which patient it has been administered before destroying it by the Covid Care Centre.
Sidhu said 60 Drug Control Officers have been deputed to keep vigilant eye on the supply of medicines. He said that he instructed the FDA to monitor the prices and stocks of the Covid related/management drugs across the State and act promptly against the seller who violates the guidelines. He said that instructions regarding supply and sale of Remdesivir have been issued to all authorities as the COVID-19 pandemic is again at its peak and the number of active cases are increasing.
Giving details of stock of medicines, Sidhu said the Govt. of India allocated 50,000 injections for distribution in Punjab from April 21 to May 9 while the State Government has received 41,056 injections. He said that 20,450 injections have been distributed to the Govt. COVID care centers and Govt. Medical Colleges and 20,606 injections distributed to the private Covid Care Centres.
He said that as per intimation letter of GoI, Punjab will receive 35,000 Remdesivir injections from May 9 to 16. He said that at present, the health department has 4913 Remdesivir inj., 60,000 Dexamethasone 4 MG inj., and 25 lacs Tablet Paracetamol etc. in stock after distribution to Govt. and Private Hospitals.