Essential drugs, PPE shortage poses challenge to COVID-19 treatment

While the US - which has recently emerged as the epicentre of COVID-19 - is witnessing a serious shortage in the supply of critical sedatory drugs, India, on the other hand is running low on PPE.

Hyderabad:At a time when most countries of the world witness an increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases, the risk of running low on several essential drugs poses a grave challenge to the fight against the deadly virus, particularly in countries such as the United States, which has emerged as the new epicentre of the disease.

Several media reports suggest an acute shortage of critical medicines, particularly sedatory drugs including albuterol neuromuscular blockers sedatives such as fentanyl, midazolam, and propofol; and vasopressors for septic shock, in the face of increasing demand.

“The rates at which hospitals traditionally had been able to fill orders for ventilator-associated drugs was 95%, which has dropped to 60 or 70% in the last month alone,” Medscape Medical News quoted Dan Kistner, senior vice president for pharmacy solutions at Vizient, a group purchasing organization that negotiates medicine contracts for about 3000 hospitals and healthcare facilities in the US.

The severity of the situation can be gauged from a tweet posted by Esther Choo, MD, MPH, an emergency physician at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, who recently tweeted, “Those ventilators can’t really be used without a similarly vast supply of coupled medications to get people *on* the vents — and keep them on humanely. Hospitals are already experiencing shortages, before we even hit disease apex.”

A recently released report by Premier, a healthcare improvement company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, pointed out that 15 drugs used for COVID-19 care are in shortage or close to being in short supply, particularly in New York.

The report suggests that while orders for Albuterol - a sedatory drug, increased this month by 1870%, its supply couldn’t match the demand. Similarly, orders for fentanyl doubled nationally in March and were up 533% in New York for the month. Only 61% of orders are now being filled, Premier reports.

India running low on protective gear

India is not too far when it comes to the shortage of essentials in terms of battling COVID-19.

Recently, the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) of the All India Institute for Medical Science (AIIMS) wrote a letter to the director expressing concern regarding a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like surgical masks, gloves, etc.

Several doctors have also taken to social media to highlight the shortage of protective gear.

Despite shortage at home, the Indian government continued to export protective equipment to other countries until recently, defying the World Health Organisation guidelines issued on February 27, 2020, stating that all countries must stock up a large amount of PPE.

There are 1, 278, 383 COVID-19 cases across the globe with 69, 756 deaths so far, including the United States of America, which has recorded 309, 254 active cases- the highest in the world, with 9,620 deaths so far.

India has reported 3,666 active cases with 109 deaths.