Chennai: After milling crowds at Remdesivir sales counters opened at six places across Tamilnadu sparked fear of turning into Covid-19 super-spreaders, the State government, starting today, will sell the anti-viral drug directly to private hospitals.
A new online portal has been launched through which private hospitals can register their requirement, officials said.
On the website, hospitals will have to upload the details of patients and the required doses of the medicine. Once the drug is allocated, the hospitals will have to send their representatives to collect it from a designated centre.
Officials of the Department of Health and Family Welfare will keep tabs on its sale to prevent black marketing of the drug. Legal action will be initiated against hospitals that seek the drug unnecessarily or do not follow the new protocol.
Following a meet chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin to review the current practice of providing the drug to people through direct sale, the government said only in Tamilnadu Remdesivir was being sold directly to the families of people infected by the virus.
Overcrowding in places where Remdesivir is being sold made following physical distancing impossible and also led to the possibility of virus spread and hence this has to be avoided, the government said.