Karnataka’s private hospitals run out of Remdesivir

COVID-19 patient needs six doses

Private hospitals are reporting an acute shortage of Remdesivir, widely used to treat COVID-19 patients. The shortage, mainly faced by small and medium-size hospitals, has prompted the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) to write to the State Health Department requesting that the injection be supplied through the Karnataka State Drugs Logistics and Warehousing Society. Currently, the government supplies this drug to private hospitals only when patients are referred by the government through Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST). Each patient requires six doses of the 100 mg injection of which two are given on the first day followed by one dose for the next four days.