After Union Minister Piyush Goyal slammed Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray for playing politics on oxygen supply, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya too busted the disinformation peddled by Maha Vikas Agahdi minister Nawab Malik today. Mansukh Mandaviya expressed his shocks over the tweets on Remdesivir supply posted by Nawab Malik, stating that they are full of half-truths and lies.
We are doubling the production in the country and have given express permission to more 20 Plants since 12-4-2021 to manufacturers. Ensuring adequate supply of Remdesivir to the people of Maharashtra remains our priority. (2/4)
— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) April 17, 2021
The NCP leader had posted a series of tweets alleging that there are 16 export-oriented units in our country that have more than 20 lakh vials of Remdesivir, an important antiviral drug that is used to treat COVID-19 complications, but the central government is denying permission for its sale in the country.
Malik further alleged that the government had said that Remdesivir should be sold only through 7 companies that are producing it, while the companies are refusing to take responsibility. Malik claims the problem must be solved and the vials must be supplied to government hospitals in all states immediately.
Slamming the NCP leader, Mandaviya said that Mr Malik is unaware of the ground situation and is peddling lies and half-truths on Twitter. He said the Government of India is in active contact with the Government of Maharashtra and is facilitating them with the supply of Remdesivir in every manner possible.
“We are doubling the production in the country and have given express permission to more than 20 Plants since 12-4-2021 to manufacturers. Ensuring an adequate supply of Remdesivir to the people of Maharashtra remains our priority,” Mandaviya tweeted.
Mandaviya also debunked the lies peddled by Malik, saying that as per the government’s records, there is only one unit of EoU and one in SEZ and not 16 as alleged by the NCP leader in his tweet. He said the government is reaching out to all manufacturers of Remdseivir to secure its supplies and that no consignment is stuck.
I request you to share the list of these 16 companies, availability of stock and WHO-GMP with them. Our Govt is committed to do everything to help our people(4/4)
— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) April 17, 2021
“I request you to share the list of these 16 companies, availability of stock and WHO-GMP with them. Our Govt is committed to doing everything to help our people,” Mandaviya tweeted.
It may be noted that while Nawab Malik claims there are 16 companies producing Remdseivir in India, actually there are seven companies doing so. Cipla, Hetero, Jubilant Life Sciences, Zydus Cadila, Dr Reddy’s, Mylan and Biocon’s Syngene have partnered with Gilead, the developer of the anti-viral drug, to manufacture it in India.
Nawab Malik uses Gujarat govt order to allege ‘step-motherly treatment by central govt’
Just hours after making baseless allegations on Remdseivir sale in the country, the Maharashtra minister made another allegation. Posting a government order, Nawab Malik said that it proved that the government of India had issued an order to ‘one of the export companies’ to supply Remdseivir to Gujarat state only. But what he forgot to note is, that the order he posted was from the Gujarat government, not the central govt.
The order by the Food and Drugs Control Administration of the Gujarat govt was issued to BDR Lifesciences Ltd, through which the state govt ordered the company to supply 1,42,000 vials of Remdseivir to the state government, which were meant to be exported. Therefore, it was an order by the Gujarat govt asking the company to supply the drug to the state, and not an order by the central govt. Therefore, the question of step-motherly treatment by the central govt does not arise in this matter.
