In a shocking disclosure before the Patna High Court, the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna, Dr P K Singh submitted that Remdesivir injection was not meant for Covid-19 patients.
“It’s not a wonder drug. Nor it is given either to mild or severe Covid-19 patients. There is no clinical study to prove its effectiveness in Covid-19. We, at AIIMS, do not give it to our patients,” said the AIIMS director, reiterating that it was neither a life-saving drug nor included in the protocol of Covid-19 patients.
The remarks made by the top health expert left the High Court division bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Mohit Kumar Shah astonished. The court wondered if it was so, then why the Bihar Government had recently placed an order for procurement of Remdesivir worth Rs 6.49 crore?
“There is no action plan. Don’t hide your inefficiency,” the court told the top Health officials, including the Bihar Health Society executive director Manoj Kumar.
Expressing its displeasure over mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis, the High Court asked Bihar’s top Health Department mandarins to submit an affidavit on Wednesday explaining how effective (or ineffective) was Remdesivir and why the Bihar Government had placed an order of Rs 6.49 crore to purchase the injection.
The court also asked the Nitish Government to highlight the fact about the injection to the common man after AIIMS director told the court that “there was an unnecessary fear prevailing among common people about Remdesivir.”
The High Court also directed the Bihar Government to apprise it by Wednesday whether the problem of shortage of oxygen at different hospitals was over.
Earlier, the HC bench expressed its displeasure that there was no regular Drug Controller in Bihar. The matter would be heard again on April 21.