New Delhi: Following an acute shortage of ICU beds, ventilators and oxygen cylinders and essential medicines such as Remdesivir, Favipiravir (more popularly known as FabiFlu) is the latest life saving COVID-19 medicine to go out of stock across pharmacies and hospitals in Delhi. Favipiravir is an antiviral drug currently being prescribed to treat mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 especially for patients who are in home isolation. It is sold most popularly under the brand name FabiFlu by Glenmark pharmaceuticals, but is also sold by Dr Reddys (Avigan), Sun Pharma (Fluguard), and Cipla (Cipvir, Ciplenza) among others. Since late-Saturday night, residents across the Delhi-NCR region started reporting that their local pharmacies, chemists and even big government run hospitals were running out of the antiviral drug. AIIMS said that they currently do not prescribe FabiFlu, even for moderate cases, and are prescribing a combination of Remdesivir, plasma therapy and steroid (hydrocortisone) treatment to COVID-19 patients. Currently AIIMS has limited stocks left of Remdesivir. University College of Medical Sciences, which counts Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital under its aegis also currently does not have stocks of the antiviral drug Favipiravir although they do recommend it to treat moderate COVID-19 cases. As of Sunday evening, one pharmacy in Chandni Chowk, Madhu Medicoes confirmed that FabiFlu is expected to be restocked on Monday morning while some residents said they were able to procure the drug from pharmacies in Connaught Place, Pusa Road, and Rani Bagh and at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital on Mathura Road. However, these are rare exceptions as several pharmacies in the city, including in-house ones at private hospitals said that they have run out of stocks. A similar situation prevailed in Noida and Gurgaon also. As a result, several citizens mobilized on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram to hunt for antiviral drugs and other essential equipment, such as oxygen cylinders and pulse oximeters (also in short supply), for elderly or critically ill relatives and friends. Private social welfare groups have been sharing details of pharmaceutical distributors, chemists who have Remdesivir, FabiFlu, or similar antiviral drugs, and people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have surplus medicines they are willing to donate.

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