Centre mulls live dashboard to monitor availability of Covid-19 drugs: Report

As India continues to see a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Centre is planning to create a live dashboard of critical drugs for coronavirus treatment to monitor the availability of these drugs, according to a report by News18.

The move aims to prevent shortage and black marketing of at least nine categories of medicines, which are generally prescribed for Covid-19 treatment.

In the second wave, critical medicines were hoarded and sold in the black market, causing a mass shortage and leading to families of critical patients waiting in queues at pharmacies to obtain them.

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"The idea is to prevent hoarding and shortage of drugs in the market. Also, the dashboard will prevent leakage from the system leading to black marketing," a government official told the publication.

According to the report, the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA), which works under the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), is working on a plan to create a system that can track the availability of stock in hand and sales.

The body has reportedly asked all pharmaceutical manufacturers to upload information such as its production, distribution and products in the pipeline on selected Covid-19 drugs on the portal.

The key categories include antipyretics, antihistamines, antitussives (to suppress coughing), antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, vitamins and minerals, monoclonal antibodies and antivirals (such as Molnupiravir).

"The categories are indicative. As per the need, we will focus on other Covid-19 drugs too. It will be a dynamic portal," the official said.

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