Govt panel to check hoarding of meds

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Friday constituted a three-member committee, led by the ADG of the Crime Branch, to prevent hoarding of medicines and other medical supplies that are essential for the treatment of critical Covid patients.
The move came in the wake of the acute shortage of anti-viral drug, remdesivir, in several states, including Maharashtra.
With the Covid caseload rising rapidly and demand for drugs like remdesivir growing, the state government apprehends there could be an alarming shortage of essential medicines and subsequent black-marketing by stockists. Remdesivir is being used to treat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients.
According to the notification, the Crime Branch’s ADG will be the chairman of the committee, while an officer not below the rank of the joint secretary of the health department and the drugs controller of Odisha would be the members. The committee will find out the causes of the hoarding and whether remdesivir is being illegally sold to patients by chemists. The anti-viral drug should only be supplied to the hospitals, not to patients directly.
Yeshwant Jethwa, ADG (Crime Branch), warned of stict action against the hoarders. “We have increased our vigilance. As of now, we have not been faced with an alarming shortage of medicines and other medical supplies,” he added.
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