Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the Union and Maharashtra governments to explain how some film stars and politicians were able to procure and distribute the anti-viral drug Remdesivir despite its shortages.
The order was passed during the hearing of PILs on the coronavirus situation on Wednesday but published on the HC website on Thursday evening.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni said that as per previous orders of the Supreme Court and several high courts, Remdesivir was supposed to be allocated to states only by the Union government.
Advocate Rajesh Inamdar, lawyer of one of the petitioners, said while hospitals were running out of key drugs like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, some celebrities and politicians were easily procuring and distributing them in response to pleas on Twitter.
The court said it did not want to come in the way of those helping COVID-19 patients, but it has to pass orders in accordance with law.