The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has directed the Centre and Maharashtra government to inform what parameters are followed for the allocation of Remdesivir injections. The court also directed the Maharashtra government to release about 10000 vials of the Remdesivir drug to Covid hospitals in Nagpur by 8 PM on Monday.
The high court issued these directions while hearing a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on issues pertaining to Covid-19 management in Nagpur. The court was informed by lawyers that the Remdesivir vial distribution was very poor in Nagpur district as compared to Thane district.
The judges said that there was arbitrariness in the allocation of Remdesivir vials and this must stop. “We do not understand the logic of 5,328 vials against 2,855 Covid beds in Thane district and the release of 3,326 vials as against 8,250 in Nagpur district. This disparity in allocation of Remdesivir vials has occurred because there is a not so rational distribution of the vials amongst various districts of state-level committee,” the court said. The court was informed that the allocation of Remdesivir is being done district-wise by a state-level committee and that the vials that are distributed differ in each district.
The court noted that on two days, April 13 and April 18, not a single vial of Remedesivir was allotted to Nagpur district.
SET UP OXYGEN GENERATION UNITS
The court also directed the Nagpur Municipal Corporation to grant necessary permissions to interested private hospitals to set up their own oxygen generation units in order to tackle the issue of dearth of oxygen cylinders in hospitals.
The court noted that there was a dearth of oxygen supply and said that production capacity was falling short to meet the demands and hence the long-term solution would lie in increasing the production capacity of oxygen. After directing the state government and district collector to grant all necessary permissions for setting up oxygen generation units, the court also directed the authorities to consider any applications for additional space required for setting up units upon payment of necessary market value.
It was also directed that if hospitals are interested in setting up smaller plants with air circulation technology, necessary permissions may be granted. If the hospitals want to order concentrators that are available online, then permission to procure those is also to be granted without any delay.
The state and central governments were called upon to submit the parameters which were being followed while distributing Remdesivir vials to different districts and the requirement requests of each state.
The court also clarified that once the collector of Nagpur receives the vials as directed by the court, there shall be a fair and equitable distribution among all hospitals and their in-house pharmacies.
OTHER ISSUES BEFORE COURT
The HC bench also asked the district collector to ensure that medical facility buildings which are not being utilised even though they were completely ready for giving healthcare facilities to Covid patients, are verified and given requisite permissions to function by this evening.
Due to the state-imposed lockdown, delivery of food was not being permitted beyond 8 PM. Now, the court has asked for this time limit to be extended till the hour of night permissible under the Shops and Establishments Act, considering the delivery of food was an essential service.
The court was also informed that despite orders for requisitioning services of medical and paramedical staff for effective management, the same was not being complied with, thereby affecting the quality of healthcare being provided in Nagpur.
The court issued a warning to the “reluctant service providers” that if they do not comply with these orders, they would be failing in their constitutional obligation and inviting coercive action against them.
The court will be further deliberating on the Covid-19 issue on April 21.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/bombay-hc-asks-centre-maharashtra-govt-to-explain-parameters-followed-in-remdesivir-allocation-1792745-2021-04-19
