A political war erupted between the centre and Maharashtra over supply of essentials including medicines and oxygen as the state struggles to control the raging Covid-19 amidst scarce health infrastructure.
Maharashtra has seen a consistent rise in Covid infections and recorded 67,123 new cases and 419 deaths on Saturday. The state has contributed to a case load of 25.67% of new cases. There is shortage of normal and ICU beds at public and private hospitals and it has been red-flagging severe shortage of vaccines, essential medicines like Remdisivir and oxygen to the centre.
On Saturday Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and state minister Nawab Mallik said 16 export oriented units in the country are holding stocks of 20 lakhs vials of Remdesivir as the government has now banned exports. These units are now seeking permission to sell this medicine in the country but are not being allowed by the centre and were warned that if they sell it to Maharashtra their licence will be cancelled. “This is a dangerous trend and under the circumstances Maharashtra govt will have no choice but to seize the stock of Remdisivir from these exporters and supply it to the needy. The govt says it should be sold only through seven companies that are producing it.”