COVID: Woman alleges Noida CMO told her she would be jailed if she came again for remdesivir
Amid a shortage of medicines, a woman attendant of a COVID-19 patient on Tuesday alleged that she was threatened with police action by the Gautam Buddh Nagar's chief medical officer if she again visited his office for remdesivir. The alleged incident happened with her after she and two other women attendants had reached the CMO office during the day along with seven-eight other people who were desperately looking for remdesivir for their family members.
According to purported videos that surfaced on social media, the three women were seen begging with folded hands and even touching CMO Deepak Ohri's feet with a request that they are provided with the life-saving drug for their husbands.
"We came here for (remdesivir) injection and they said it would be given when available. When I said I will come again, I was told that I would be sent to jail if I came again," the woman, whose husband is admitted at a private hospital in Noida, told reporters.
She and the other people who had come to the CMO's office said they did not get the injections needed for the treatment of their patients.
There was no official response from the CMO or the district administration over the episode.
The incident unfolded as several people in the district made frantic searches for drugs, including remdesivir, even as the district administration and the CMO recently claimed that there was no shortage of medicines or hospital beds in Gautam Buddh Nagar.
Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh, is one of the worst pandemic-hit districts in the state with a death toll of 181 and over 6,800 active COVID-19 patients, according to official figures.
(With PTI inputs)
