NEW DELHI, April 15 (BBC) - In recent days in India, social media has been awash with desperately requests for help finding the drugs remdesivir and tocilizumab. The effectiveness of the two drugs is being debated across the world but some countries, including India, have given emergency use authorisation to both.

The antiviral drug remdesivir is being prescribed by doctors across the country, and it is in high demand. India has banned exports, but manufacturers are still struggling to meet the demand. India has reported more than 150,000 Covid cases a day for the past three weeks.

Hetero Pharma, one of seven firms manufacturing remdesivir in India, said the company was trying to ramp up production. The BBC has found that the shortage in supply is leading to black marketing of the drug in Delhi and several other cities. At least three agents contacted by the BBC in Delhi agreed to supply each vial of remdesivir for 24,000 rupees ($320; £232) - five times the official price. A patient usually needs six or seven 100mg vials for one course of the drug.

That is a lot of money for a middle-class family. "I had to spend so much money to get the drug, said Atul Garg, whose mother was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi. Finding the drug required "hundreds of calls and many anxious hours", Atul said.

Tocilizumab, a drug normally used to treat arthritis, has been proven to save lives in some clinical trials. But it has almost disappeared from the market in India.

Rajiv Singhal, general secretary of the All India Chemists and Druggists Association, said his phone was ringing through the day as people asked him to help find the drugs.

"The situation is so bad that I can't even get the drugs for my own family members," he said. "We are trying to take action against those who are black marketing, but I admit that there are leakages in the system."