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Raigad/Mumbai, April 30 (IANS): Sparking a mega health scare, at least 90 Covid-19 patients in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, who were administered Remdesivir doses of a particular brand, developed severe side-effects following which the state government has imposed a temporary suspension on its use here, FDA Minister Rajendra Shingane said.
“The incident took place on Thursday in around three hospitals in the district. The patients who were administered Remdesivir manufactured by the company Hetero Drugs had complained of side-effects,” Shingane told IANS.
The shocking incident came to light when some patients developed chills, drop in blood pressure, fall in SPU count, varying degrees of fever or other health issues in various hospitals.
Releasing a video-statement, Raigad Collector Nidhi Choudhari said that following complaints from patients in different hospitals, the district health authorities acted on them immediately.
A district official said that out of a particular Hetero batch of its Rendesivir brand ‘Covifor’ injection, 130 patients were given the doses out of which a staggering 90 reported the side-effects, shaking the already-stressed local medical authorities.
On learning of the matter, the FDA authorities in Mumbai immediately suspended the administration of Covifor and recalled its batches till the full details of the incident are examined by the concerned medical authorities.
Choudhari said that the district authorities also ordered all medicos not to administer the particular injection to any patient, and to withdraw the remaining stocks of the injection from all the hospitals they were distributed to.
The Collector reiterated the Centre’s and WHO’s past assertions that Remdesivir is “not a life-saver drug” as is the general perception and it is used in a specific manner during the Covid-19 treatment protocols.
In his petition to the Centre, Tiwari had alleged a massive scam of over INR 25,000-crore through haphazard MRPs being charged by the medical distribution chain exploiting lakhs of desperate customers anxious to get a Remdesivir dose, hoarding by unscrupulous elements to create an artificial shortage and demanded a probe by Central Vigilance Commission.