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No headway in probe into covid medicine theft from Patiala hospital
A single vial of the medicine costs around ₹34,000 and is provided to hospitals at government price; in the black market, however, the injection is sold at between ₹80,000 and ₹1 lakh.
Patiala A month after six vials of Covid critical care medicine, Tocilizumab, were found to be missing from the isolation ward of the Covid care centre at the Rajindra Hospital, there has been no breakthrough in the case. The injections are administered to critical Covid patients, mainly on ventilator support.
A single vial of the medicine costs around ₹34,000 and is provided to hospitals at government price; in the black market, however, the injection is sold at between ₹80,000 and ₹1 lakh. On May 14, an First-Information Report (FIR) was registered under Section 380 (theft) of the IPC against unidentified persons, after the hospital filed a complaint with the SSP.
The hospital had formed an internal committee to investigate the matter, but the panel recommended that the police needed to be involved. A doctor with the hospital claimed that the role of staffers could not be ruled out, as isolation wards were under CCTV surveillance.
“Policemen had been deployed outside wards to restrict entry of outsiders. The injection were stolen at the time when there was shortage of injections in the open market, and were provided to hospitals in limited stock,” a doctor added.
Rajindra Hospital medical superintendent Dr HS Rekhi said the internal committee did not find any concrete evidence. “The committee’s report said the investigation should be shifted to the district police, so that a thorough inquiry can be carried out,” he added.
Civil Lines SHO Gurpreet Singh said they have scanned footage from CCTV cameras at the hospital. “The investigation slowed due to a spurt in covid cases. The inquiry process will be streamlined now,” he said.
