The Bombay High Court bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni on Thursday observed that just like Lakshman was saved from Sanjeevani, we too don't need foreign medicines to cure Covid19. The HC said the government authorities must consider adopting the "trial and error" theory and check for medicines for Covid in India.
The bench made these observations while hearing a clutch of petitions highlighting the crisis arising out of Covid across the state.
During the course of the hearing, the bench was informed that the Remdesivir and Tocilizumab injections are being sold at exorbitant rates and the citizens cannot even afford to purchase the higher prices.
At this, CJ Datta said, "We understand why these foreign medicines are giving so much importance. The reasons are obvious."
"But do not forget that Sanjeevani helped in saving Lakshman. We do not need a Hanuman today (to bring Sanjeevani) as we already have the medicines. We just need to make use of trial and error to check for the medicine," the chief justice remarked.
The bench further said that the state, as well as the Union government, have enough powers to stop this profiteering by such foreign medicine manufacturers.
"No manufacturer must earn profits at least in these testing times. India is not a place where these multinational companies can earn profits by exploiting the citizens," CJ Datta remarked.
"You (Union and State) have enough powers to stop them from doing so. Why isn't the Union considering to fix the rates of these injections?" the chief justice said while asking the Union government to submit a fresh affidavit on this aspect of the matter.
The bench also ordered the authorities to consider what could be the alternatives of Remdesivir and Tocilizumab.
The bench has fixed the matter for further hearing on next Thursday.
