Madhya Pradesh: Remdesivir black-marketing is rampant in the state capital, all accused involved are associated with private hospitals

BHOPAL: Blackmarketing in Remdesivir injections is rampant in Bhopal. In the space of one week, three incidents have been reported where the police arrested men trying to sell illegally procured drugs at a higher rate than the market price. According to the police, all the accused involved in the cases are associated with private hospitals.

The residentsósearching high and low for the life-saving injectionóare seeking information about the availability of Remdesivir through the social media and they are coming into contact of black marketers. Also, there is no clear information available about where the persons may buy the drug in case they need it.

These black marketers roam around the Covid hospitals and they search for needy persons. When those in need of the injection fail to get these injections from outside, they rely on these unscrupulous elements. In all the incidents, the accused are associated with hospitals and they easily get the injections issued.

The Bhopal district administration, on the other hand, has failed to supply a sufficient number of injections to all the hospitals. Also, due to the rising demand, the administration has fallen short of Remdesivir injections.

The three incidents

Three incidents of blackmarketing of the drug were reported this week. The Misrod police arrested a man with three vials of Remdesivir injection on Tuesday evening. Earlier, on the same day, two men were arrested with three vials of Remdesivir by the Koh-e-Fiza police.

These two incidents were reported within a week of another incident where four men were arrested with four injections by Crime Branch officials.

All efforts of the administration have been in vain to check the blackmarketing of the injection. In Misrod, the police arrested a man, Yasir Khan, with vials of the injection when he was standing near a private hospital, waiting to sell those injections to some person in need.

Khan said his friend Dharmendra Chakraborty had arranged for these injections. The same day, the Koh-e-Fiza police arrested two men, Balram Prajapati and Rajendra Meena aka Raja, with three vials of the Remdesivir injection. They were roaming around a private hospital at Lalghati and, after they were arrested, they said they had planned to sell the injections at more than Rs 65,000 each.

The Crime Branch, on Sunday, arrested four men with four vials. One of the accused in the case is a doctor in a private hospital.

"NO SHORTAGE AT ALL"

Collector Avinash Lavania said there were, indeed, cases of blackmarketing of the injection, but denied that there was a shortage in the hospitals. Sometimes, people try to purchase more injections than prescribed, he said.