The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), which ran a campaign for the proactive prevention of Covid-19 by administering Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to lakhs of vulnerable population in the city since April, is allegedly facing a shortfall of the anti-malarial drug, which is used as a prophylactic. Several Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHC) in Vadodara city and district, as well as the staff of Dhanvantari Raths, have reportedly run out of HCQ.
Vadodara has been at the forefront of using HCQ as a prophylactic during its Covid-19 preventive drives and many medical experts in the city have credited the low rate of health workers testing positive for Covid-19 to its aggressive use of HCQ, but government centres reportedly ran out of stock earlier this week. Dhanvantari Raths staffers claimed that they had been unable to distribute the free-of-cost drug in several areas where positive cases have been detected over the past few days.
VMC Medical Officer of Health, Dr Devesh Patel said, “There was a delay in procurement of HCQ because the VMC gets its stock from the Gujarat Medical Services Corporation Ltd. We received about 10,000 tablets today and are expecting the full stock to arrive by tomorrow. It is only a prophylactic, so its absence does not pose any risk. But if there is a continuous shortfall, the VMC will purchase the drug if needed.”
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