10 deaths in 45 days in Bengaluru, but H1N1 drug is in short supply

BENGALURU: "Fluvir? No stocks." This is the response from most authorized chemists in Bengaluru to people who want to buy the drug prescribed for treating Influenza A virus (H1N1). The city has seen 10 H1N1 deaths in 45 days. Panic spreads if a person shows symptoms of the disease. But Fluvir, the antiviral drug that very few chemists are authorized to sell after procuring it from the government of India, is not easily available. Forget the common man, even the BBMP is finding it tough to procure the medicine. Fifty-one pharmacies - independent and those attached to hospitals - are authorized to sell Fluvir. The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD), at the forefront of treating H1N1 patients since 2009, has not been getting Fluvir. The institute has been advised to procure the drug on its own, but has no budgetary allocation. The hospital gets over 50 patients for swine flu screening daily. TOI visited many chemists on Monday and found people with prescriptions going back empty-handed. "We do not have the medicine. We cannot procure it from other dealers," said a chemist in Jayanagar. Fluvir is the most-sought-after medication in the past one week, many chemists said. Each tablet costs Rs 48. For children, Fluvir is available in the form of syrup. Cash Pharmacy, one of the licensed dealers of Fluvir, had no stock on Monday. A man with a prescription for the drug left the store disappointed. However, Yasho Pharma, Residency Road, said it has Fluvir in stock. "There is a huge demand for Fluvir. On February 14, we sold 45 strips of 10 tablets each," said proprietor G Mahesh. It is mandatory for the prescriptions to have the seal of the doctor and his/her Karnataka Medical Council registration number. Dr Raghuram Bhandary, drugs controller for Karnataka, said on Monday the city received 7,000 strips of the medicine which were distributed among the 51 authorized druggists. "We are trying to increase the availability of the medicine in the city by supplying it to an additional set of chemists. On Tuesday, we will procure 7,000 tablets from Andhra Pradesh. Fluvir is not a tablet that can be used for any other illness, unlike paracetamol. Thus, chemists were not stocking it up. Now we are seeing a sudden spike in demand," said Dr Bhandary. -TOI