Hours after the death of a 46-year-old Covid patient admitted in a small hospital in north Calcutta, his family alleged that the hospital did not administer remdesivir even after they procured six vials of the medicine.

A complaint has been registered with Shyampukur police station against the hospital on Sunday.

“My brother-in-law was admitted to the hospital on April 28. Hospital officials would keep calling us and informing us about treatment procedures and medicines we needed to purchase immediately. Once we were told to purchase a machine. We arranged it immediately for Rs 12,000. Then on May 3, we were told to get six vials of remdesivir. They said the medicine was available in a pharmacy nearby,” said the sister-in-law of the deceased.

A purported bill generated from the pharmacy on May 3 in the name of the patient shows the sale of one dose of “100MG LYOPHILIZED injection” for Rs 20,940. The family said they had this as the “proof of buying Remdesivir.”

The Telegraph reported on Saturday that health department officials were concerned about violation of norms regarding prescribing remdesivir by smaller hospitals and nursing homes, forcing patients’ families to purchase the drug at a premium.

The government’s directives suggest that the medicine should be directly supplied only to hospitals and nursing homes treating Covid patents. The directive also prohibits hospitals from unnecessarily prescribing the medicine.

The deceased person’s family said when the patient’s condition started deteriorating on May 14, the hospital asked them to shift him to a better medical facility.

According to the complaint lodged with Shyampukur police station, the family contacted their family physician. He took out the treatment summary from the hospital and told the family that there was no mention of remdesivir in it. The patient died early on Sunday.

“When we confronted the hospital they verbally assured us that remdesivir was administered. However, there was no mention of the medicine in the summary,” the family alleged.

The police said they would refer the case to the health department for investigation.