Gurugram catches fancy of Covid drug black marketeers

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune news service

Gurugram, July 13

Owing to the shortage of Covid treatment drugs like Remdesivir in Delhi and other cities of NCR, Gurugram has caught attention of black marketeers.

Gurugram so far is only city in NCR that has ensured

consistent supply of drugs to critical Covid patients at MRP. Taking an advantage of the same many fraudulent agents after procuring the drugs from city are out selling them at ten times the price in Delhi and NCR areas like Noida.

Priced at Rs 5,400 a vial, Remdesivir is being sold at as high as Rs 30,000 at vial by black marketeers who are reportedly sourcing the same from Gurugram.

Already on high alert, the local drug department has barred dispensing of drugs to any non-IPD patient by city hospitals.

“From day one we ensured that the drug is procured on direct company-to-hospital basis and it cannot be sold or bought over the counter from chemists. We have stringently ensured compliance of capped price. Every evening the hospitals submit the available stock and injections used and report to us so that we can keep tabs on the consumption. Gurugram, as of now,

has no shortage, but following reports of people and agents trying to procure the same from hospitals through fraudulent prescriptions we have stepped up vigilance. The Covid hospitals have been restricted on

prescriptions and dispensing of the drugs only to the IPD patients admitted to their facilities. The drugs are then procured by the hospital and not patient,” said Drug Controller Amandeep Chauhan.

According to Chauhan, the drug is used in critical Covid patient management and thus is required by IPD patients only and as per protocol is directly procured by hospital.

“There is seamless procurement in the city so far with no reported shortage or waiting period. To keep things going we need to keep a check on any black marketeering attempt,” he said.

Though the city has enough stock, the alarm has been sounded on active black marketeers trying to procure Remdesivir, Favipiravir and Tocilizumab. The social media groups are full of requests of people seeking drugs and agents advertising the provision of same in not just NCR but across the country.

Such social media posts have put cyber crime branch of police also on alert. The crisis, according to doctors, has risen owing to massive demand and supply gap.

The demand for Remdesivir soared as it managed to cut the duration of Covid symptoms from 15 days down to 11 in clinical trial at hospitals around the world. Though there is no corroboration to prove its absolute effectiveness, in the absence of

any proven drug doctors are increasingly prescribing it in India creating huge demand.

US-based Gilead Sciences, which originally developed Remdesivir to treat Ebola, has allowed four Indian companies — Cipla, Jubilant Life, Hetero Drugs and Mylon — to produce it. However, only Hetero has produced the drug so far.