Kerala has ordered a detailed probe into the reported administration of expired remdesivir to patients at Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital, including people infected with Nipah virus, after Health Minister K Muraleedharan told the state Assembly that stock used in 2024 and 2025 had expired in May 2023.
The medical board investigating the matter will be headed by Dr Aravind Reghukumar, head of infectious diseases at Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. Its mandate is to determine whether the use of expired remdesivir contributed to Nipah deaths or caused adverse effects in other patients.
The minister said the Directorate of Medical Education and Directorate of Health Services had been instructed to collect details of all patients who received remdesivir during the relevant period. The drug was administered through intravenous infusion and had been supplied to healthcare institutions by Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) to meet emergency treatment requirements.
According to the minister’s statement, the stock was last procured on June 3, 2021, through KMSCL’s Karunya division. KMSCL purchased 3,000 vials for Rs 42 lakh, with the stock carrying an expiry date of May 30, 2023. Records from Kozhikode medical college hospital showed that 102 vials were used in 2023-24, 34 in 2024-25 and 10 in 2025-26.
The records have raised concerns that expired remdesivir may have been administered between 2023 and 2025. The minister also referred to 50 vials recorded as used in 2026-27, but clarified that these had been brought from Bahrain on June 12, 2026, to treat a Nipah patient. That stock was therefore separate from the remdesivir procured through KMSCL in 2021.
The probe follows questions raised in the Assembly by Mathew Kuzhalnadan. Its findings are expected to establish the identity of patients who received the medicine, the dates and quantities involved, and whether the expired stock was used in treatment after its expiry. The supplied account does not establish that expired remdesivir caused any death or adverse effect; determining that link is part of the investigation.
The issue has emerged against the backdrop of fatal Nipah cases in Kerala. The minister said two of the six cases reported in 2023 were fatal. Both cases reported in 2024 resulted in deaths, while two of the three cases reported in 2025 were fatal. The sole case reported in 2026 recovered.
The incident places attention on how emergency medicines are procured, distributed, tracked and removed from hospital inventories after expiry. KMSCL supplied the medicine to healthcare institutions, while the state’s health and medical education directorates have now been directed to compile treatment records. The medical board’s investigation and the departments’ patient review will determine the next official findings.
