Bhubaneswar: Amid the rising cases of Coronavirus, Odisha government has issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the requisition of Tocilizumab for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The Additional Chief Secretary (Health), PK Mohapatra has written to all the district collectors, municipal commissioners, CDM and PHOs regarding the SOP for the requisition of Tocilizumab and other drugs to treat Covid positives.
He said that Tocilizumab, as per the Union Health Ministry, may be considered in patients with moderate disease with progressively increasing oxygen requirements and in mechanically ventilated patients not improving despite the use of steroid.
He further said it was observed that the hospitals are submitting requisitions for provision of the Tocilizumab for COVID patients at different hours of the day without adequate information on the patient's condition making it difficult on the part of the expert committee to recommend its use and supply.
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“It has also come to the notice that after receiving the Tocilizumab through government supply, the hospitals have not used the drugs on some patients for whom requisitions were filed. So as a measure to rationalize the supply of Tocilizuniab or appropriate use by needy patients and to avoid the stockpiling of these limitedly available drugs after being issued, the hospital authority (Medical Superintendent/ CMO/ Authorized Medical officer) must submit their requisition for the patients…”
The chairman of the expert committee, on receipt of the copy of the requisition, will review and forward his recommendation/rejection for the issue of the drugs. The hospital with its authorised representative only will receive the drugs from the Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) and it must return the unutilised drugs to the corporation, Mohapatra added.