A 23-year-old homemaker who had allegedly promised a family a dose of six vials of remdesivir 100 has been detained on the charge of facilitating the illegal sale of a vial for Rs 21,000, enforcement branch officers said.
Remdesivir is at times used to treat Covid. One dose of the medicine, comprising six vials, costs around Rs 4,000, police said.
An employee of a reputable city pharmacy was arrested at a spot on Park Street where he was supposed to deliver the medicine to the woman, who police identified as Nidhi Goel, on Monday evening.
Police said one vial of remdesivir 100 was seized from him. He had allegedly removed it from a reputable store without keeping any record. No receipt had been issued, the police said.
According to the protocol, one dose of the medicine comprises six vials.
“We had received a complaint from a family alleging that a woman was selling them one vial of remdesivir 100 for Rs 21,000. Initially, she had promised six vials, but apparently could arrange only one. The actual price of the entire dose of six vials should be within Rs 4,000. The family said they had contacted the woman through a mobile number they found on social media. Tracking the phone number, we zeroed in on her. She is Nidhi Goel, a resident of Park Street,” said deputy commissioner, enforcement branch, K.P. Barui.
Pursuing her statement, a joint team comprising officers of the enforcement branch and the state drug controller picked up the pharmacy employee, Biswajit Das.
Barui said Das was an employee of a medical store on Chowringhee that had taken the franchise of Blueprint. “We have found details of the store owner. He will be booked, too,” Barui said.
Das has purportedly admitted before the police to have smuggled out close to two dozen remdesivir vials violating the ban on their sale to individuals, an officer said.
A state government order on April 24, which dealt with the “guidelines for judicious use of remdesivir”, mentioned: “remdesivir has been approved under Emergency Use Authorisation in the management of Covid-19 virus infection during the replicative phase of the virus, but it has been observed that it has been used indiscriminately which is not only inappropriate but has also created an artificial crisis in the market…. It must not be sold to patients on prescription and should only be supplied to hospital by companies or their vendors.”
The order also mentioned that roughly 10-20 per cent of all Covid-19 cases fulfilled the criteria of treatment with remdesivir.
A formal complaint was lodged with Park Street police station by officers of the drug controller, Bengal, on Monday night and a case was drawn under IPC sections related to cheating and criminal conspiracy and under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
A police officer said many who felt insecure and threatened by rising cases of Covid-19 in the country might have decided to stock remdesivir at home and some black marketeers had illegally procured the drug from distributors and pharmacies to exploit the opportunity.
Several hospitals in the city that are treating Covid-19 patients reported non-availability of remdesivir in the market.
An official of Peerless Hospital said: “We have 20 patients who need remdesivir today but we have doses enough for only four. We have been promised fresh doses by the government.”
Another private hospital official said they had a requirement for 200 patients but had stock for only 40.
“The government has promised us more vials. We are telling the patients’ families that we would not be able to administer the drug if we don’t get fresh supplies from the government,” said an official of the hospital.
