GPO procures 5.5 million Favipiravir tablets to cope with rising infections
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has procured 5.5 million tablets of Favipiravir for treatment of Covid-19 patients after a new wave reported in Thailand since late March has quickly spread to several provinces.
“The first lot of 3 million tablets that we had ordered arrived on Friday, while another 2.5 million tablets will be here next Monday,” said Sirikul Matevelungsun, GPO deputy managing director.
“The drugs will be stored at GPO’s warehouse in Samut Prakan province. We will soon start distributing them to hospitals and medical units nationwide, especially in the provinces with high number of infections.”
Sirikul added that currently Thailand is using 50,000 tablets per day on average to treat Covid-19 patients, when each patient requires up to 70 tablets of Favipiravir.
As of Friday, the number of confirmed cases in Thailand had risen to 96,050 with 2,256 new cases and 30 new fatalities. So far, 62,316 have recovered and been discharged, 33,186 are still in hospitals, and 548 have died.