Frantic scramble for COVID drugs in India

  • Date: 27-Apr-2021
  • Source: Kuwait Times
  • Sector:Healthcare
  • Country:Kuwait
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Frantic scramble for COVID drugs in India

NEW DELHI: Manish Aggarwal celebrates with weary relief after laying his hands on precious doses of COVID-19 medication for his sick father-a victory where thousands across India have not been so lucky. He has been waiting in line outside a small pharmacy in Delhi for eight hours to secure remdesivir, and is rewarded with just two of the recommended six doses.

"Finally, it's a victory!“ he exclaims. But not everybody is as fortunate. In the same queue in the south of the Indian capital are more than 100 people with loved ones in hospital. Only 30 people receive the medicine. Scuffles break out every few minutes as people try to jump the queue. Three armed policemen are stationed nearby for crowd control. The officers keep telling those gathered that no more tokens-pieces of paper with a scribbled number on them-for remdesivir will be distributed today as stocks have run out, and they ask them to try somewhere else.

India is struggling with a catastrophic surge in coronavirus infections as well as severe shortages of medical supplies, with hospitals and crematoriums overwhelmed. "This government has failed us so much that those who can normally survive also die,“ says an exhausted Vinod Kumar, who