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COVID-19 testing: Focus is on building capacity for home visits, says Ameera Shah of Metropolis

Updated : March 26, 2020 11:03 AM IST

In these challenging times of coronavirus outbreak, the one sector that is in focus for be it an investor or a citizen is pharmaceutical.

Ameera Shah, MD of Metropolis and Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance in an interview with CNBC-TV18 discuss in detail how the drug industry is tackling the challenges and how testing of COVID-19 by private labs was shaping up.

Shah said that they are seeing a lot of demand in cities for patients with prescriptions wanting to test for coronavirus. “A lot of people have similar symptoms to COVID-19, flu like symptoms, sore throat, fever, cough and are wanting to get checked. So, we are seeing demand for testing,” she said.

With regards to testing, she said, “Right now we are focusing on building the capacity for home visits but the biggest challenge that we are having at this point of time is our manpower who are willing to go for home services to people’s houses, we are having a challenge in having enough instrumentation, challenge in having enough reagents and chemicals to do the testing.”

Shah further said they were also facing challenges with respect to supplies for testing due to lack of commercial flights. “Today, while we could collect samples in Delhi, Chennai, or Bangalore, bringing them to Mumbai is becoming a challenge because of lack of commercial flights. So, if these issues can be resolved by the government, then we would be able to ramp-up even more quickly as we move forward,” she added.

When asked if there was a shortage of drugs, Jain said currently they have adequate stock in terms of APIs and drugs. “The stocks are available for 3-4 months requirement. As far as hydroxyquinoline and azithromycin is concerned, we have got the capacity to produce 3-4 million tablets of hydroxyquinoline in the country. So, we are totally prepared and we have got all the capability for production of the goods,” he said.

Jain further added that the spurt in demand for drug hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQS) was unprecedented. He also said that there has been some hoarding, but they are totally prepared to supply it. “Zydus Cadila and IPCA are the world's largest producers and they can totally prepared to supply whatever the requirement. They are ramping it up and are in discussions with all the city governments. They are totally prepared for supplying the products,” he said.

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