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The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has written to states and have asked them to ensure availability and distribution of mass gloves and sanitizers; this comes even as the pharma-industry bears the brunt of a lockdown as transporters refuse to lift consignment. The lockdown and curfew in many states has broken the medicine supply chain. The pharma unit owners say that they have been forced to stop manufacturing as some pharma units, like the suppliers and printers have been shut. Suspension of transport services have also piled stocks of finished medicines at various localities in Chandigarh. The transporters are not lifting consignments as the truckers are not willing to move. Non-availability of packaging material has also hit the pharma business.
It has been made clear from the notice of the Central Governemnt and State Governemnt that the pharmaceutical business falls under essential commodities and hence these factories have been permitted to continue working but issues arise in terms of logistics as they have not been provided any form of transportation means and as a result, are a unable to dispatch materials.
Sanjay Dheer, a pharmacist interviewed by India Today on 29th March, 2020 stated that they contacted transport agencies but the drivers were unwilling to cooperate. Another pharmacist, Mr. Vibhor Jain, stated that the staff members were afraid to come out, not only because of the fear of the disease but due to police atrocities.
With the number of cases increasing rapidly, India is looking to ramp up its ventilator count on war footing. The Government is sourcing out 30,000 devices from BEL pharma and 10,000 from another pharmaceutical unit. In addition, private players are also pitching in. The Governemnt has robed in the defence research and development organisation to design multi-patient ventilators. Once these ventilators have been tested by doctors, they will be produced in huge numbers.
Engineers of the Mahindra and Mahindra Group have come up with a prototype that would cost just INR 7,500 compared to the ventilator available at market prices at INR 5,00,000 or more. The engineers stated that their aim is to make another 2-3 prototypes in the next few days which is lighter and more compact than the present prototype.
India’s largest car producer, Maruthi Suzuki India has tied up with the AgVa Healthcare to produce up to 10,000 ventilators a month, R C Bahargava, the Chairman of Maruthi Suzuki India has stated. He further stated there is no absolute limit on the number and it depends on the what the market requirement becomes at that point of time and are capable of scaling it up further on Governemnt instructions. As per the arrangement, AgVa Healthcare will be responsible for the technology, performance and related matters for all the ventilators produced and sold by them, while the auto major on its part will use its suppliers to produce the required volume of components and use its experience and knowledge to upgrade systems for the production and quality control of the higher volumes.
World over, countries are facing a crunch. In New York, a hospital has started putting 2 patients on a single ventilator machine. It has not been considered ideal but workable. India is estimated to have 40,000 ventilators currently. The Government has not taken chances and has allotted INR 15,000 Cr. for healthcare upgrade which includes ventilators and protective gear for health workers.
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