Medical and pharmacy shops in the capital will have to mandatorily put up rate charts of medicines and medical equipment at prominent places inside their establishments, deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan ordered on Friday to curb black marketing and overcharging amid growing reports of such malpractices from different quarters.

Ranchi SDO Utkarsh Gupta, sectoral magistrates appointed to keep tabs on different medical shops and officials from the district’s drug control department attended the meeting with Ranjan, held at the district collectorate.

Following the meeting, Ranjan said, “I have directed all the officials concerned to ensure that medical shops under their jurisdiction must now put up rate charts of crucial drugs and medical equipment so that people are aware about its actual price. No shop must charge anyone above the prescribed MRP rate. Anyone found doing so will be dealt with strictly. Most importantly, shops must desist from providing anyone medicines without prescription.”

The deputy commissioner added that different magistrates have been deployed area-wise to keep strict surveillance on medical shops and have been asked to conduct surprise inspections as well. “Recently, different teams have conducted surprise inspections of shops in different areas in the city. Such inspections will now be intensified further,” he promised.

A drug inspector maintained that people must seek valid bills from the shops after any purchase. “The moment you ask for the bill that is charged from you, chances are that the shop may refrain from overpricing. Every customer must stress on taking the bill,” he advised.

City police too are on alert specially to curb black marketing of Remdesivir. “We have floated four numbers—9431706136/9431706137/9431706139 and 0651-2215855 to seek inputs/complaints regarding black marketing of Remdesivir,” said a Ranchi police official, adding that two days ago, based on the tip-off, they had arrested one person from Ratu road with four vials of Remdesivir.