Didn't allow BJP to buy Remdesivir: Maharashtra minister Rajendra Shingne

Mumbai: Amid a political slugfest over Remdesivir, Maharashtra FDA Minister Rajendra Shingne has denied claims of the BJP that he had allowed the saffron party or any individual to purchase or distribute the injections, which are in high demand for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Shingne alleged the BJP was spreading wrong information even as he acknowledged that some leaders of the saffron party had approached him earlier on Remdesivir. "No organisation or political party has the permission to purchase or distribute Remdesivir in the name of helping COVID-19 patients. The party (BJP) is spreading unnecessarily wrong information in various forms of media," the Foods and Drug Administration (FDA) minister told reporters .

Mumbai police had last Saturday questioned Rajesh Dokania, director of Daman-based Bruck pharma, over the alleged excess stock of the Remdesivir drug.

However, the questioning took a political turn when senior BJP leaders, including former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar, rushed to the police station and questioned the police's move to grill Dokania. Fadnavis had admitted that BJP leaders had contacted Bruck Pharma to supply the stock to Maharashtra as the state is facing a shortage of Remdesivir vials.

Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken has alleged that the country from being a Vaccine Leader has been reduced to a Vaccine Beggar and rather than testing corona positive patients, the Government is testing the people's patience.

Maken alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address on Tuesday was empty rhetoric. The states and common people were expecting relief from the Prime Minister but as always 18 minutes of the PM's speech disappointed everyone. It had no direction, no empathy for the poor and those affected by the pandemic were left high and dry.

Maken said India declared the coronavirus pandemic to be a "disaster" on March 14, 2020. Ten days later, over a billion people were put under the world's most severe lockdown, with the government arguing it needed time to expand the country's healthcare capacity. It is high time that we effectively analyse the improvements if any, made in this direction.