Hyderabad: At a time when the world is reeling under the coronavirus scare, there is a rat race as to who will make COVID-19 vaccine to contain its spread. Even in this hour of crisis, there are reports of stockpiling and hoarding vaccines which is a key-saving drug for the virus.
While the total number of coronavirus cases in India has crossed one million mark, thus reaching third place after America and Brazil, the death of 23,000 people is absolutely heart kindling. Though the efforts to find a vaccine that would check the dreaded disease are on war footing, we do not know exactly when they would be available. In the meanwhile, some medicines like Remidesivir, Lopinavir and ritonavir, Tosalijumab injections, which wpuld give some relief to the critically ill patients are available at a higher price.
The same is true even in the medical stores of corporate hospitals. It has become a common unethical practice of the wholesalers throughout the country to resort to the inordinate collection of hiked prices! The medicines that are permitted by the ICMR should be delivered directly to the hospitals for experimental use in hospitals. But the suggestion that in exceptional cases, on the prescription of doctors, such medicines could be sold on humanitarian grounds has given scope for the medicines to sidetrack. Since the complaints are being poured in on large scale, the Director and Comptroller General of India has swung into action and issued orders to stop diversion of such medicines to the black market. In view of the critical situation, we need a more effective plan of action.
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The WHO is aspiring to make available any drug that cures the deadly COVID, without the botheration of patents, etc. Trump government has entered into an agreement with “Gilead”, a pharmaceutical company that it should supply all its production of Remdesiror only to the USA for three months. With the approval of Gilead, Cipla, Hetero, Mylon are given permission by the government to produce Remdesirir under different names. But their prices are playing havoc with the lives of the affected. Maharashtra government has given directions that the relations of the patients who need Remdesirir, Tosilijumab, should submit the details of their Aadhar cards, doctor’s prescription, and COVID Positive report.
Haryana has specially focussed that the stocks of the medicines do not deplete. According to reports, cybercriminals are very active in the sale of the key medicines through Dark Net. Even when the virus crisis started, the black market started its nefarious fangs in the sale of masks and sanitizers. Further, some gangs have also sprung up in the sale of oxygen cylinders, which are essential for patients with acute breathing problems, at exorbitant rates. In the absence of viable livelihood, people who are struggling to get on, find the rates of fruits, vegetables and grocery items on the higher side, leave alone eating nutritious food. The governments at the center and in the states should take steps to check those prices and punish the hoarders, to avoid furtherance of the crisis.
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