Gujarat Govt Figures On COVID19 Not Matching With Actual Positive Cases : Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday observed that had the Gujarat Government taken pre-emptive steps earlier, the present grim situation of COVID-19 pandemic could have been avoided."If the state had taken steps, not that the State was sleeping, but if there was a push, if all of this had been done earlier, before the PIL was registered, situation would have been better", Chief Justice Vikram Nath told Advocate General Kamal Trivedi.While the AG maintained that the State was adequately prepared, CJ said "no, you have the complete machinery &resources to see if things are controlled. But this is not being done". The CJ said that last year the Court had passed a slew of directions in a suo moto PIL giving suggestions for increased testing, arranging for more hospital beds, maintaining social distancing and wearing of masks, etc."Our suggestions have not been implemented seriously. People are taking it too lightly", the Chief Justice said.On Thursday, a Bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav Karia of the Gujarat High Court was continuing the Court's suo motu proceedings taking stock of the surge in COVID-19 cases in the State. At the hearing today, Chief Justice Nath pointed out that there seemed to be a divergence between the numbers of those tested, as provided by the state, and the actual numbers of those infected."Figures given by State are not matching with the actual number of positive cases", CJ said.The Chief Justice also declared that the High Court's academy and auditorium halls can be used to house lawyers and Court staff who were COVID-19 positive and did not have the space to isolate in their homes. Asking the President of the Bar Association to make arrangements with the Registry the Court orally said "The State has to make arrangements for food". The previous hearing had seen Advocate General Kamal Trivedi being called upon to submit to Court details of steps the State was proposing to take to cope with the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state. A major chunk of the day's hearing was devoted to the availability of Remdesivir, the availability of testing and hospital beds across the State and other facilities such as CT-Scans. On Remdesivir At the outset, the Court asked the Advocate General to clarify the use and application of drug Remdesivir. Commenting that people were not sure of its use and that as a result of the demand, it was being hoarded and being sold at nearly four times its price, the Court remarked, "WHO has different concept, ICMR has another, state has different concept, people don't know (its use)… Unnecessarily Remdesivir has been made amrut!". The Advocate General underscored that the Remdesivir injection is not a recognised drug under the Drug Control Act and the drug was presently confined for use in emergencies. "There is a lot of misinformation, it is being used indiscriminately because people recommend…", he said. To this, Chief Justice Nath responded, people are not recommending, doctors are! Pointing the Court to the recommendations of an expert Committee of Doctors, the Advocate General said that the Committee has said that injection should be administered when a person has fever for 4-5 days, and oxygen levels below 90. The injection has side effects. "According to doctors, this injection has to be given under medical supervision. As per Central Government, should be given by hospitals. Wrappers of 7 manufacturers say that injection can be given only in hospital. Not for home use", the Advocate General added He went on to say, "This is freely available on retail, but not over the counter, cannot be given like paracetamol..Needs medical prescription…Now, Central Government is faced with situation of demand…Drug cannot be brought under the Drug Control Act, price cannot be controlled because does not come under Act… From day one, people have been purchasing for home care." Adding that Remdesivir has been over-prescribed, he also emphasized that the injection was to be made available to hospitalised patients and hospitals. When the Court suggested that the expert committee make public how the drug was to be used, Advocate General Trivedi stated that the Committee's experts were using social media to speak about drug The Chief Justice then queried on whether the State had sufficient injections to match demand. At a later point in the proceedings, the Advocate General submitted that 1 lakh vials of Remdesivir were being manufactured for the whole country. He added that the heightened use of the drug along with the slowed manufacture was shooting up demand. "Why don't you do it on oath, that the injection is available everywhere, whenever required, on medical prescription and that anyone whether in hospital or otherwise will get?", the CJ asked. The Advocate General responded stating he had reservations on use of term 'sufficient' stock He then...

Gujarat Govt Figures On COVID19 Not Matching With Actual Positive Cases : Gujarat High Court

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