JOIN USSuppliers striving to match Centre’s order for Remdesivir, ventilators: RTI
Amid the grim Covid-19 situation in the country, the Union government has ordered the procurement of 46,386 ventilators and 53.70 lakh vials of Remdesivir. Out of the order, various manufacturers till Wednesday have supplied over 38.05 lakh injections and 43,979 ventilators to various states, Union territories and the Central government’s facilities, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
Out of 43,979 ventilators supplied to various anti-Covid facilities, 38,958 have been installed, the ministry said in reply to a plea under the Right to Information Act. Out of the Remdesivir injections, allotted or ordered to be procured for various states, Maharashtra has been allotted 11.57 lakh injections and has secured a supply of merely 7.99 lakh, the reply said.
After Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh has procured over 3.63 lakh doses of the injection against an allotment of 4.95 lakh doses, while Gujarat has been supplied 3.54 lakh injections against an allotment of 4.19 lakh doses.
The Union ministry has given its response in reply to a plea by RTI activist Sujeet Swami. Karnataka for which an order for procurement of 5.75 lakh injections had been placed has procured 3.26 lakh vials, the reply to RTI plea revealed.
Similarly, an order for the supply of 2.20 lakh injections had been placed for the national capital Delhi which has secured over 1.81 lakh of its doses, the reply added. Some other states which have got significant supplies of the injection are Madhya Pradesh (2.14 lakh vials against an order of 2.60 lakh injections), Rajasthan (1.57 lakh vials against an order of 2.48 lakh), Bihar (92,000 against an order of 1.5 lakh vials), West Bengal (one lakh vilas against an order of 1.60 lakh) and Punjab (60,000 against an order of 85,000).
Among various states, Telangana is the only state which has secured more vials of Remdesivir than what it had ordered for – 1.98 lakh against an order of 1.45 lakh vials. The RTI reply further revealed that two union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, which have been allocated 2,000 vials of injections each, are yet to procure even a single vial of the injection.