Even as many retail drug stores have run out of stock of the preventive antiviral medicine, Oseltamivir for swine flu, stockists rue the fact that the city has very few distributors licenced to supply the Schedule X prescription drug. State Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, says that there is no need to issue fresh licences as supply can be maintained with the help of existing licenced stockists. Only about 50 chemists are licenced to sell Schedule X drugs, according to sources.

Stockists say that licences of most of them have expired as there was no need to stock the drug due to no demand for the past years.
Licences were issued when there was an outbreak of H1NI1 in Pune, some years ago. With the re-emergence of swine flu in the state now, the demand has dramatically increased.

Says a Mumbai-based stockist, "With the increasing number of cases detected in the city alone, state FDA should take the onus of issuing fresh licences. Only a few chemists have just about started stocking the drug and there is sudden increase in the demand due to which its procurement is a problem."

FDA, however, maintains that the drug is available at all the government hospitals where the patient can avail it free of cost. A panic button has been triggered to make the matters worse even when the licenced stockists can provide the drug in a timely and sound manner. That is why, there is no need as such to issue fresh licences for the drug. Besides that, companies like Cipla and Hetero have the capacity and network of stockists to meet the demand of patients currently.

As many as 38 people have died and 193 have been hit with the deadly virus in Maharashtra this year. In Mumbai, 19 cases have been detected so far. No deaths have been reported from the city. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have also called for a high level meeting to discuss the sudden spurt in cases.

According to the state health department officials, there is no shortage in Oseltamivir stocks with BMC and the state health department. A chemist said that the shortage had been brought about by the stipulation that hospitals receiving swine flu patients must put their staff on a preventive dosage. The prophylaxis treatment continues for 10 days and the staff and close contacts have to take a 75mg dose every day.

The civic body has launched a helpline number - (022 24114000) where citizens can call for details regarding the disease. Two ventilator beds have been reserved in civic hospitals for swine flu patients. There are three laboratories in the city, at Kasturba Hospital, Haffkine and SRL Religare, carrying out swine flu tests.  

According to experts, "There is no need for the citizens to wear masks. They should just take precautions while sneezing and coughing in public by using a handkerchief and if they have any symptoms, they should stay indoors."