The Bombay High Court urged the Maharashtra government to continue the probe into the private distribution of Remdesivir injections by politicians and celebrities after discrepancies in the responses received by the drug inspector was brought to notice, Live Law reported.
The drug inspector had issued notices to actor Sonu Sood‘s Sood Charity Foundation and National Congress Party MLA Zeeshan Siddique in compliance with the court’s orders.
While the manufacturers told the Centre that they supplied Remdesivir only to the government agencies, Sood Foundation responded to the drug inspector’s notice claiming they received supplies from Jubilant, Cipla, Hereto when approached for help, according to the court.
In response, both claimed that they did not purchase or store Remdesivir but only facilitated it by paying the costs of the medicines in some cases and by merely enabling in others.
Sood, through his foundation, said that they were never involved in the purchase or distribution of Remdesivir or Tociluzubam but have only “assisted” in getting the antiviral drug through hospitals, pharmacies and companies.
The Sood Foundation checks if the person making request on social media is “really needy”, after which they provide help by contacting politicians, other hospitals in the area and manufacturers to provide medicines through the hospital’s pharmacy.
Responding along the same lines, Siddique denied storing or purchasing the drugs and stated that he had merely assisted people in getting vials of Remdesivir by directing them to charitable organisations, hospitals, pharmacists and health care centres who might provide the same on an urgent basis.
According to Maharashtra’s Additional Solicitor General, while manufacturers may not have been involved, sub-contractors must have been involved which the state now needs to probe.
In addition to their primary concern of “spurious drugs and inequitable distribution”, the court asked the state to proceed with the inquiry.
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On accusations of distributing rarely available medicines to treat mucormycosis, the court said that it was the state government’s responsibility to “caution them and take an undertaking that they will not indulge in this”.
India has been battling the second wave of Covid-19 since March with thousands of people dying due to lack of oxygen supply in hospitals and inadequate beds, vaccines, medicines, cremation and burial spaces across the country. While the Central government has been denying the severity of the situation, Sood and his team have been working night and day attending SOS calls, arranging oxygen cylinders and medicines globally.