BHOPAL: The sale of Remdesivir injections in the black market is rampant in the state capital, but the police are only catching those who are found selling the vials red-handed. But, due to the involvement of hospital staff, the accused manage to procure the injections easily and find people in need of this life-saving injection to sell them vials of Remdesivir illegally.
Four such incidents have been reported this month, when the police arrested the accused trying to sell injections to persons in need of them. In Kolar, the police booked a couple who work as staff nurses at a hospital on Friday. Earlier, Remdesivir was seized by the Koh-e-Fiza police, Misrod police and the Crime Branch. In all the cases, there have been at least one prime accused who worked in a hospital.
Also, the accused gain information about the persons in need of the injection- either through the hospitalís database, or after roaming around the hospital premises, trying to identify the persons in desperate need of the injection.
The police say they arrest an accused after they receive information about any person who is selling the vials illegally. They say the accused contact victims on the spot, or they arrange for the supply of the medicines only to someone they know personally. It, thus, becomes difficult to identify such racketeers.
In all the four cases, the accused were arrested from near a hospital and the police have also deployed their men around hospitals that have corona care units.
Special monitoring
Deputy inspector general (DIG) Bhopal Irshad Wali says they have arrested and quizzed all the accused. They have accessed injections illegally from hospitals they work in, he says. The Crime Branch is specially monitoring the blackmarketing of Remdesivir injections, he says.
Where are the vials?
The police are yet to take any action in the case of theft of Remdesivir injection vials from Hamidia Hospital. There have been reports of sale of the stolen vials in the blackmarket. It has been a week since the incident occurred and the police say that injections were not stolen, but were misplaced or mismanaged by the staff. The missing vials are yet to be found and a reshuffle in the hospital is the only action taken in the case. Opposition leaders have demanded a high-level inquiry and strict action against the accused.
