Director of private hospital among 3 arrested in Patna for black marketing of Remdesivir

The EoU team found that more than 45 vials of Remdesivir injections were procured by the hospital administration.

The Economic Offence Unit (EoU) of Bihar Police has arrested three people, including the director of a private hospital and medical representative (MR) from Gandhi Maidan police station area of the state capital, for the alleged black marketing of Remdesivir injection, EoU officials said on Friday. The antiviral drug is currently in high demand for the treatment of Covid-19.

File photo: A man holds boxes of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug used to treat Covid-19 symptoms. (PTI)

The accused were arrested and identified as the director of Rainbow Hospital, Ashfaq Ahmad, his relative Altaf Ahmad and MR Raju Kumar Choudhary who is said to be engaged with Jubilant pharma. An EoU official said Ashfaq is a resident of East Champaran and currently residing at Saket Tower in SP Verma Road, Patna, while his relative is a native of Darbhanga. Choudhary belongs to Vaishali. They were arrested while trying to sell the medicine illegally at exorbitant rates in a bid to make quick money.

Acting on a tip-off, an EoU team led by DSP Bhaskar Ranjan approached Altaf and placed an order for two injections for ₹1 lakh. As soon as Altaf reached the spot with two vials of Remdesivir injections, the team caught him red-handed.

During the search of the hospital and its stock register, the EoU team found that more than 45 vials of Remdesivir injections were procured by the hospital administration. The hospital administration ran a medical shop by the name Renbo Pharma at its premises and purchased injections in the name of a patient and sold it to another at rates ranging from ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh per vial, an official said.

Additional Director General (ADG) (EoU) NH Khan said that the accused have been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

In the meanwhile, Barari police of Bhagalpur district arrested two people, including a manager of a private hospital, on the charges of purchasing Remdesivir vial in the name of a Covid-19 patient. Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police Nitasa Guriya said that the arrested persons have been identified as Rahul Raj, manager of Pulse Hospital, and a middleman named Pintoo Thakur.

Thakur was arrested on Thursday around 9.30 pm when he reached Mukul Trader to purchase an injection. Suspecting his activity, the trader informed the drug department which reached with Kotwali police and caught him for interrogation.

During the interrogation, he revealed the name of Rahul Raj, who send him to purchase the vial in the name of a patient named Nagendra Prasad Bhagat of Banka district.

When the police team raided the hospital, they found that Bhagat died two days ago. The duo also disclosed the name of one Mohammad Alam who was also involved in black marketing.

In the state capital, a video went viral on social media wherein a doctor of a noted government hospital demanded ₹45,000 and ₹40,000 respectively per vial for Remdesivir from a patient. At NMCH, a doctor suggested the attendant of a patient to purchase Remdesivir from the market on April 29 while the state government on April 27 supplied 400 vials of Remdesivir.

As the Covid-19 cases surged across the state, the demand for Remdesivir has increased with one vial of Remdesivir, which costs around ₹3,400, being sold at ₹40,000 in the black market.