Kareena Eugene
On Tuesday, 20th April 2021, in view of the shortage of several drugs for COVID-19 patients, the Delhi High Court said that the Central Government should, if considered necessary, invoke its powers under the Patents Act 1970 to direct compulsory licensing of the drugs to deal with the COVID situation.
The Court, however, said that the “best course” would be to “encourage” the existing manufacturers to speed up their production on a war footing, as was done for Remdesivir (drug for COVID-19 patients), and to grant “voluntary licence” to others to manufacture them.
The Court said that, “If such efforts do not fructify, the Government/Drug Controller should not hesitate to invoke their power under Patent Act (to direct compulsory licensing) since lives of the people which are being lost at a very fast pace take priority over everything else. Such patent holders can be compensated by fixing a fair licence fee”.
A Division Bench consisting of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, passed an order based on a petition concerning the COVID-19 situation in the city.
Taking note of the hoarding and black-marketing of COVID-19 drugs, the Court directed the Central Government and its agencies, particularly the drug controller, to issue necessary directions and undertake checking on regular basis to unearth all such cases.
The Court said, “you need to take out a whip, raid people”.
The petitioner, Rakesh Malhotra, at the time of hearing, highlighted that Delhi is facing an acute shortage of Ramdesivir on account of the drug being given to other States.
Rahul Mehra, a Senior Advocate for the Delhi Government, said that Delhi was in a “very alarming situation” and there was a need to send resources to it.
The Court responded that, “We can hope and expect that this distribution is on the number of cases in other places and there is no politics. Every life is important…We assume the (government official) is applying its mind to the need of the area and seriousness of the situation otherwise people will have blood on their hands…then we are doomed”.
Accordingly, the Court directed the Central Government to “dynamically review” the distribution of Ramdesivir to the States and the Union Territories, on the basis of their needs or serious active COVID patients. The Court added, “this is essential to maximize efficient use of the life-saving drug”.
The Central Government told the Court that they have banned the export of Ramdesivir and the manufacturing of the drugs have been ramped up.
Considering the fact that the number of COVID patients needing hospitalisation is higher than what it was last year, the Court asked the Centre to urgently look into allocating more beds from amongst their hospitals.
The Court proceeded to record the Central Government’s submission that it was “endeavouring to make more beds available” to Delhi in its Hospitals.
The Centre informed that their hospitals were occupied by stable and non-COVID patients (who require critical care).
To speed up the COVID-19 testing, the Court further directed the Central Government to issue necessary directions for top priority clearance of imported machines by Customs authorities.
It has also directed ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) to give more priority to clearances for setting up RT PCR test labs.
The matter will be heard on the 22nd of April, 2021.
