Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government has appealed to the Centre to make available Remdesivir and Tocilizumab injections to treat coronavirus patients citing its non-availability. The government has also urged the Centre to supply 500 ventilators especially to be placed in rural hospitals.
Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state government has requested that the Centre to supply Remdesivir and Tocilizumab injections at the earliest as the reports suggest that their application helps speedy recovery of the coronavirus patients. He, however, said the state government has also requested to make available these two injections at a lower price.
Referring to the complaints with regard to the non-availability of beds in Mumbai, Tope said the state government has instructed the private hospitals not to admit patients without any symptoms of coronavirus. This was necessary as the positive patients have to struggle to get the beds while the patients without symptoms of COVID-19 occupy oxygen and ICU beds by citing the lab reports.
''It has come to the notice that the private hospitals admit patients without COVID symptoms and charge them heavily. The genuine COVID positive patients have to move the helter-skelter to find the beds. Therefore, it has been decided not to share the lab reports directly with the patients and the municipal officers have been appointed to keep an eye on this,'' said Tope. He supported Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner's decision to send ward-wise coronavirus reports.
Tope said the government has already reduced the test rate charged by the private laboratories. Labs can't charge more than Rs 2,200 for collecting the swabs through viral transport media (VTM) from hospitals, while it would cost Rs 2,800 for collection of swab from home. He added the lowering of rates for the tests has provided a relief to the people.
On the complaints with regard to the non-availability of ambulances in Mumbai, Tope said BMC will deploy about 10 ambulances in every ward.
