Relatives of patients are travelling far and wide to Chennai to get Remdesivir, while a number of them are paying exorbitant rates to get the drugs. In such a situation, drugs such as Remdesivir are unavailable in a number of private hospitals, and the growing demand has led to blackmarketing. In Madurai, there is a shortage in the availability of Remedesivir and Tocilizumab across government and private hospitals. J. Alexander Romario, a resident of Dindigul, has admitted his uncle at the GRH and his father at a private hospital in Madurai for COVID-19 treatment. Varun Ramamurthy, consultant intensivist, Corona Care team, Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, said that many family members of COVID-19 patients were insisting on providing these drugs to patients even when it was not necessary.

Source: The Hindu May 07, 2021 18:37 UTC