"Tamil Nadu Seem To Be Crying Out For Requisite Supply Of Drugs & Vaccines": Madras High Court Asks Govt To Be Prepared For 3rd COVID Wave

Taking up its own-motion petition relating to monitoring the COVID-19 response in the state of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, the Madras High Court on Monday (May 10) observed that both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry seem to be crying out for the requisite supply of drugs and vaccines.

Importantly, a Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy remarked,

"If, as the experts suggest, a third wave may be in the offing, it is necessary to be over-prepared and not require the resources being put to use rather than being unprepared and rue for not having garnered additional resources. The object of the exercise is to prepare for the worst and hope that the worst does not hit us."

The Bench further noted that the Supreme Court has constituted a National Task Force to:

• Assess and make recommendations for distribution of medical oxygen for the entire country.
• Review and suggest measures necessary for ensuring the availability of essential drugs and medicines.
• Plan and adopt remedial measures to meet future emergencies arising during the pandemic.
• Suggest measures to augment the availability of personnel and facilitate the sharing of best practices and make recommendations in regard to other issues to find an effective response to the pandemic.

In this backdrop, the Court noted,

"Till such time that the National Task Force announces the allocations in consultation with local officials, it is the Union which is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the continuous supply of oxygen, vaccines and drugs to the States and Union Territories."

Oxygen Supply

Regarding the oxygen supply, the Court noted that the State and the Centre should find ways of effective supply to the south-western region of the State since supply from Sriperumbudur or elsewhere in north or central Tamil Nadu may be logistically difficult to reach the south-western part of the State.

The Court was also informed that with the rising numbers, the demand of Tamil Nadu for oxygen will hit 800 MT (currently state's demand is about 475 MT of oxygen on a daily basis) within the next few days.

Further, noting that the Oxygen generators have been set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation at short notice at some places, the Court said that this avenue must be explored.

Vaccines and Drugs

The Court observed that in Tamil Nadu, the vaccination for persons below the age of 45 has not been possible because of the lack of the number of doses and that Remdesivir was to be in short supply in both the State and the Union Territory.

The Court noted that Puducherry has a little over 700 vials left for distribution and in Tamil Nadu, additional centres have been opened up in cities other than Chennai for the supply of Remdesivir to private persons.

Importantly, the Court noted that some patients complained that they do not have appropriate representatives to depute to collect the drug from the government centres and thus, an appeal was made to ensure direct supply to the private hospitals upon the private hospitals providing adequate documentation in such regard. Thus, the Court directed the state to look into this area.

Lastly, the Additional Solicitor-General assured to take up the case of both the State and the Union Territory with the Centre, at least till such time that the National Task Force set up by the Supreme Court order gets down to the nitty-gritty of allocation and the like.

To this, the Court said,

"It is necessary that immediate urgent measures be taken, both to augment the supply of oxygen in the State and of vaccines and drugs to both the State and the Union Territory."

The matter has been posted for further hearing on May 12.

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