The National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) announced that it will suspend the dispensing of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) drugs remdesivir and tocilizumab after reaching "critical stock level."
In an interview with CNN Philippines, NKTI Executive Director Dr. Rose Marie Rosete Liquete said non-NKTI patients may not be able to avail of the two COVID-19 drugs from the hospital.
"Our stock is already critical and we have not been receiving stocks from the supplier. I believe with that volume of 115 COVID-positive in the hospital, not to mention we have a lot of them in the emergency room still waiting, I believe we will be needing more of it in the coming weeks," Liquete said.
"In a few days there will not be enough anymore because every day we are increasing, last week we just had 100 to 107, today 115. If you compute the need of each patient who are severe to critical, ubos lahat yun (nothing will be left)," she added.
Remdesivir and toxicilizumab are drugs used to treat severe to critical COVID-19 cases.
Liquede added that the lockdown "didn't really make a difference."
"The 115 in patients that we had, it has been like this, 80 to 90 , since start of August, and in the past week, more than a hundred na every day."
The NKTI has also suspended dispensing hemoperfusion cartridges to non-NKTI patients due to limited supply.