Current Affairs 12 April 2021 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 12 April 2021 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events on the day are :

1. Injection Remdesivir

Injection Remdesivir

Why in News ?

Recently government Prohibits Exports of Injection Remdesivir as a result of sudden COVID spike in Inida. There are 11.08 lakh active COVID cases and they are steadily increasing.

Need for Export Prohibition

As COVID increases there is a sudden spike in demand for Injection Remdesivir used in treatment of COVID patients. There is a potential of further increase in this demand in the coming days.

Injection Remdesivir

• Remdesivir is a drug approved for treatment the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
• It was developed during the out break of EBOLA.
• Mainly used for the treatment of COVID-19 disease during the pandemic
• It is recommended for the treatment of hospitalized adults and children
  • The age should be 12 years and weigh at least 40 kg.
• Seven Indian companies are producing Injection Remdesivir with M/s. Gilead Sciences, USA having a capacity for production of about 38.80 lakh units per month.

Measures Taken by the Government

1. Domestic manufactures of Remdesivir have been advised to display details of their stockists/distributors on their website.
2. Drugs inspectors and other officers have been directed to verify stocks and check their malpractices
   • Also take other effective actions to curb hoarding and black marketing.
   • The State Health Secretaries will review this with the Drug Inspectors of the respective States/UTs.
3. The Department of Pharmaceuticals has been in contact with the domestic manufacturers to ramp up the production of Remdesivir.

Source : PIB

GS II : Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources