Lok Sabha Question No. 304 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-20
Subject: Shortage of COVID-19 Medicines
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: Mala Roy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 304 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 20 th  July, 2021

## Shortage of COVID-19 Medicines

## 304. SHRIMATI MALA ROY:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

(a) the details about the total number of COVID-19 treatment related medicine supply to State Governments from 1st January 2021 to 30th June 2021, State/UT-wise; and (b) whether there has been any shortage of supply, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS (SHRI MANSUKH MANDAVIYA)

(a): The monitoring of availability of COVID-19 related drugs started w.e.f. first week of April, 2021 when the COVID-19 cases in the country started rising very fast leading to temporary shortages of some drugs. Department of Pharmaceuticals, in consultation with Department of Health and Family Welfare, started allocating such drugs to States/UTs where a temporary mismatch in demand and supply was observed in order to ensure equitable availability of such drugs  across  all  regions  of  the  country.  Allocation  was  done  for  following  four  drugs: Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, Amphotericin B (Liposomal) and Amphotericin B (Conventional). Allocation of Remdesivir started on 21.4.2021, Tocilizumab on 30.4.2021, Amphotericin BLiposomal on 11.5.2021, and Amphotericin B - Conventional on 14.6.2021 respectively. The details of supply of the allocated drugs to States/UTs up to 30 th June, 2021 is given in Table below: -

## Supply of Drugs to States/UTs (Number of vials)

|   Sr. No. | State/UT          |   Remdesivir |   Amphotericin (Liposomal) |   Amphotericin (Conventional) |   Tocilizumab |
|-----------|-------------------|--------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------|---------------|
|         1 | Assam             |       104062 |                        300 |                             0 |           550 |
|         2 | Chandigarh        |        25478 |                       3240 |                           480 |           155 |
|         3 | Chhattisgarh      |       227667 |                       5460 |                             0 |           430 |
|         4 | Delhi             |       276765 |                      19591 |                             0 |          1492 |
|         5 | Goa               |        43282 |                        910 |                           110 |           400 |
|         6 | Gujarat           |       776743 |                     157629 |                         20422 |          2070 |
|         7 | Haryana           |       287769 |                      29250 |                             0 |          1575 |
|         8 | Andhra Pradesh    |       765232 |                      57477 |                             0 |          2321 |
|         9 | Telangana         |       432478 |                      55110 |                             0 |          1113 |
|        10 | Jammu and Kashmir |        74573 |                        900 |                             0 |           870 |

| 11   | Karnataka                         |   966446 |   61138 |     0 |   9428 |
|------|-----------------------------------|----------|---------|-------|--------|
| 12   | Kerala                            |   182028 |    3020 |   440 |   6980 |
| 13   | Madhya Pradesh                    |   338825 |   54901 |     0 |   1465 |
| 14   | Maharashtra                       |  1723006 |  152770 |  9190 |  10033 |
| 15   | Manipur                           |     5943 |     150 |     0 |    130 |
| 16   | Mizoram                           |     4618 |       0 |     0 |     15 |
| 17   | Punjab                            |   178910 |    8900 |   930 |   1403 |
| 18   | Rajasthan                         |   362493 |   66637 |  3800 |   2625 |
| 19   | Tamil Nadu                        |  1081829 |   36298 |     0 |   2567 |
| 20   | Uttar Pradesh                     |   530185 |   41153 |  1510 |   2000 |
| 21   | Uttarakhand                       |    96870 |    4650 |     0 |    625 |
| 22   | West Bengal                       |   233906 |    2220 |     0 |   2232 |
| 23   | Odisha                            |   171997 |    1370 |   280 |   1752 |
| 24   | Bihar                             |   162800 |   10392 |   720 |   1415 |
| 25   | Jharkhand                         |   182187 |    3180 |   180 |    770 |
| 26   | Dadra and Nagar Haveli &Daman Diu |     3268 |     500 |     0 |     80 |
| 27   | Tripura                           |     5200 |      50 |     0 |     10 |
| 28   | Arunachal Pradesh                 |     4846 |       0 |     0 |      0 |
| 29   | Puducherry                        |    23252 |     530 |     0 |     25 |
| 30   | Nagaland                          |      774 |       0 |     0 |     30 |
| 31   | Meghalaya                         |    17060 |       0 |     0 |     65 |
| 32   | Sikkim                            |     3730 |       0 |     0 |      0 |
| 33   | Himachal Pradesh                  |    42154 |     220 |     0 |    150 |
| 34   | Andaman and Nicobar Islands       |     3300 |       0 |     0 |     30 |
| 35   | Ladakh                            |     1500 |       0 |     0 |     30 |
| 36   | Lakshadweep                       |      500 |       0 |     0 |      0 |
| 37   | Central Allocation- MoHFW         |    42274 |   36377 |   590 |   2741 |
| 38   | Central Allocation- Other         |     1682 |       0 |     0 |      0 |
|      | Total Supply                      |  9385632 |  814323 | 38652 |  57577 |

- (b):    Addressing the issues of shortage of drugs across the country is a regular activity of National  Pharmaceutical  Pricing  Authority  (NPPA).  NPPA  received  1011  complaints  on shortage of drugs on its Helpline during second wave of COVID-19. NPPA made efforts to ensure  the  availability  of  the  above  drugs  in  all  the  States/UTs  by  coordinating  with  the manufacturers and nodal officers of SDCs based on the allocations made by DoP to various States/UTs.

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