Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso announced that the city government of Manila has bought 2,000 vials of Remdesivir for the treatment of their COVID-19 patients in its district hospitals.
₱13 million was allotted for the purchase of the drug which the city was able to get at only ₱6,500 from its original price at around ₱20,000 each.
According to Domagoso, they will be used to complement the continuing efforts of Manila to combat the virus. Remdesivir will be used to treat mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19 patients in the city’s six major health care facilities as approved by the Food and Drug Administration, he said.
It will be distributed to the Ospital ng Tondo, Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Ospital ng Sampaloc, Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, Ospital ng Maynila, and Sta. Ana Hospital — the city’s COVID-19 referral hospital.
Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan noted that the drug will not be available for sale.
“Kung saka-sakali kakailanganin pa, bibili pa po tayo… mapataas lang namin ang probabilidad na kapag kayo ay na-infect ng COVID-19, kayo ay mag-recover,” Domagoso said.
[If the need arises, we will purchase for more… just to increase the probability that if you were infected by COVID-19, you will recover.]
Remdesivir is an antiviral medication that is now being widely used as an additional medication for severe COVID-19 patients. It is one of the drugs included in the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial.
The Department of Health said its early clinical trial results have shown “positive” effects on patients, but results are not “conclusive” yet.
