The sale of Covid-19 mitigation products and drugs like sanitisers, masks, immunity booster Vitamin C, pulse oximeters and even Remdesivir have plunged by about 90% across India, including Maharashtra, with the second wave waning.
“Over 1.5 lakh vials of Remdesivir have expired with stockists in Maharashtra as there are few takers and manufacturers are not accepting the expired stocks. Almost 200 stockists across India had Remdesivir stocks worth a month, which have now expired,” said Jagannath Shinde, president of the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists Associations (AlOCDA).
Dr Sanjay Pujari from the ICMR National Task Force on Clinical Research for Covid-19, also the director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases, Pune, told TOI: “The drop in demand for Remdesivir has been due to twin reasons: its limited use and drop in Covid cases. During the initial days of the second wave, Remdesivir was being used frequently. Studies later showed that it was only beneficial to a niche group of patients.”
Barring Ahmednagar, Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara, the other districts in Maharashtra were showing a significant drop (90%) in sale of all products and drugs related to Covid, said Shinde. “There is no market for vitamin C, sanitisers and masks with stocks for almost two months lying unsold with retailers and wholesalers currently,” he said.
Barring Ahmednagar, Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara, the other districts in Maharashtra were showing a significant drop (90%) in sale of all products and drugs related to Covid, said Shinde. “There is no market for vitamin C, sanitisers and masks with stocks for almost two months lying unsold with retailers and wholesalers currently,” he said.
Alarmingly, the All-India Mask Manufacturers’ Association president Anshumali Jain quoted a 90% drop in sales of masks since the second wave waned. Maharashtra Chemists & Druggists Association secretary Anil Navandar said mask and sanitiser sales were now almost nil.
On the increasing number of people flouting Covid-appropriate behaviour, Pujari said it might have to do with aspects like “pandemic fatigue”, drop in Covid cases and increase in vaccination rates. “Still, people must not let their guard down and continue to follow all the necessary norms,” he said.
Anil Belkar, secretary of the Chemists’ Association of Pune District, said: “Currently, we are seeing no demand for masks, sanitizers or pulse oximeters. Of the 100% of entire store sales, these products would earlier contribute to almost 70% of sales. It has now come down to 5%. Immunity boosters like Vitamin C tablets have also seen a drastic drop in buyers.”
