Hyderabad: Four people were arrested by Rachakonda police on Monday for illegally acquiring and selling the COVID-19 antiviral drug Remdesivir at higher prices in black. The accused were apprehended by assassins of the special operations team, LB Nagar Zone.
According to Rachakonda police, the accused were identified as Nomula Praveen, Maraboyana Kondal, K Ramesh and Jogu Praveen. The police seized three Remdesivjr injections and five cellphones and discussed them under the limits of the Meerpet police station in terms of section 51 (B) Disaster Management Act.
According to police, Chief Prosecutor Nomula Praveen worked as an invoice manager at Diya Hospital, Bairamalguda. The second accused works as a pharmacist in the Children’s Hospital in Malakpet. The other two accused Ramesh and Praveen previously worked as laboratory technicians and pharmacists at Shyam Hospital, BN Reddy Nagar.
Due to the continuing shortage of Remdesivir injections across the country, some medical shop owners and distributors have been trying to make money fast by marketing the Remdesivir injections black since it was generally sold.
The actual price per vial of Remdesivir injection is 3490 Rs, but in black it is sold at Rs. 30,000 to Rs.35,000. Due to a lack of alternative, desperate families of COVID-19 patients are forced to buy it in black to save the lives of their loved ones. The four accused had contact with medical distributors to bring about the most important for the black market COVID-19 drug.
While going to one of their illegal transactions, the accused were arrested on Monday along with Meerpet police near Shyam Hospital BN Reddy Nagar by the slaves of the SOT LB nagar team. In Hyderabad, several people have been arrested in different places for this crime. The black marketing of the Remdesivir drug is now unbridled.
Source: The Siasat Daily