Doctor, aide held for black marketing Remdesivir

Jalandhar, April 24

An FIR was registered against Dr Gurpreet and his employee Raman Kumar for black marketing of Remdesivir injections.

During a raid by the Drug Department, several empty vials of Remdesivir were found at a medical centre, for which no bill of purchase or receipt of patients was produced.

A decoy patient of the Drug Department approached Raman for buying Remdesivir injections. Called at the MGK Medical Centre in Jalandhar, the two vials of the drug were sold to the decoy for Rs10,000.

A case under Section 420 of the IPC, Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, Section 57 of the Disaster Management Act and the Drug (Prices Control) Order, 2013, has been registered against the duo. While a vial of Remdesivir costs between Rs962 and Rs3,050 in the market; they was selling two vials for Rs10,000 (one for Rs5,000).

Drug Inspector Anupama Kalia said: “A decoy was sold Remdesivir vials for Rs10,000 in violation of the government notification regulating its price. During the inspection of the centre, 12 empty vials of Remdesvir were also found, for which the doctor could not produce any bill of purchase or patients’ records.”

SHO Ramandeep Singh said: “Raman Kumar was selling Remdesivir at exorbitant prices. Vials of Remdesivir were also found with Dr Gurpreet. They were arrested.”

The arrest comes hours after the doctors in the district were clamouring about a shortage of Remdesivir vaccines. Across hospitals, teams are falling short of different doses of the injection, which they said were only available in black and that too at exorbitant prices. — TNS