The Covid drug shortage in Kolkata is sending the families of patients to a heartbreaking race. Since last week, the drug Actemra or Tocilizumab has disappeared from the market. Rinku Banerjee, 53, flew from Delhi via Jaipur to Kolkata to personally search for the medicine for her father who is in a nursing home in southern Kolkata. Her doctor urgently wanted to administer Actemra.
"I tried everything ... white market, black market, gray market. But it was like banging my head against the wall. I am desperate. I desperately need medicine for my father," Banerjee said. "I spoke to numerous people who don't want names mentioned. They go by references ... phone numbers ..."
Ms. Banerjee arrived in Calcutta on July 10 and found nothing until the 14th. "It has been a heartbreaking experience talking to vendors, distributors, manufacturers ... but the medicine has disappeared. I don't know what to do ... I can only hope that it will be here soon. That is what they tell me." "
Rinku Banerjee is not alone in her difficult situation. Anyone looking for Actemra has left a blank across the country throughout July. A son flew from Delhi to Patna with vials of Tocilizumab for his father, a doctor in the capital of Bihar.
Why this shortage? Sources say the drug is imported by the Cipla pharmaceutical company. A shipment arrived in Mumbai in late June and was practically cornered by a state government that is struggling with Covid's numbers. Some vials reached Kolkata but disappeared in a short time.
From NDTV News
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please Don't Send any Spam Link in Comments