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Despite drop in demand, Remdesivir vials found on black market
The police forces in Pune district have found two cases of black marketing of Remdesivir even though the demand for Remdesivir has decreased in the last three weeks, according to the allocation list issued by the district collector’s office
The police forces in Pune district have found two cases of black marketing of Remdesivir even though the demand for Remdesivir has decreased in the last three weeks, according to the allocation list issued by the district collector’s office.
A 25-year-old man was arrested by Pune city police crime branch for selling Remdesivir on the black market on Tuesday in the Lohegaon area. On the same day, the Pune rural police arrested another man for selling the drug Shikrapur.
The man arrested by Pune city police was identified as Devendra Kaluram Chaudhury (25), a resident of Chirke Colony in Lohegaon, Pune while the one arrested by Pune rural police was identified as Amit Devidas Pawar.
A case under Sections 420 (cheating), 188, and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code along with relevant sections of Drug Price Control Order, 2013; Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; was registered at Vimantal police station. A case under similar sections was registered at Shikrapur police station.
Chaudhury, a pharmacist, had acquired the injection from a person known to him who had procured four vials of Remdesivir for a patient. However, as one vial was not used, the person sold it to Chaudhury who in-turn sold it for ₹45,000.
Pawar, on the other hand, has no medical background and was found carrying four vials in the storage of his two-wheeler vehicle.
A total of 168 hospitals in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and 116 hospitals in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) received allocation of Remdesivir through the district collector’s office on Tuesday. The PMC and PCMC each have about 100 hospitals treating Covid-19 patients, according to the divisional commissioner’s Covid-19 dashboard.
On Tuesday, 553 hospitals in Pune district received 6,534 Remdesivir injections. One week before that, on May 12, 626 hospitals received 6,530 injections and on May 5, the allocation was of 9,756 for 557 hospitals.
Therefore, the demand has considerably gone down and even though the process is monitored by the district collector office, the injections are landing in the black market and what’s more, they are also finding buyers who are ready to pay over 12 times its market price.
The readiness of relatives to pay the amount stands proof of the loophole in the Remdesivir distribution and supply system.
