Black marketing COVID drugs: How miscreants are taking advantage of supply shortage

There have been several reports of black marketing of COVID-19 supplies, and most of the illegal activity has happened over the antiviral drug Remdesivir which is given to patients with severe conditions. While hospitals are facing a shortage of the drug, miscreants are able to supply the same for ten times the original price. Recent cases of black marketing revealed that the drugs are getting smuggled from hospitals and producers and as it is required by critical patients, victims are asked to pay a preposterous amount of money. 

Apart from Remdesivir, black marketing of oxygen cylinder has been reported as well. The offenders are hoarding oxygen cylinders amid several states are in dire need of it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his meeting with Chief Ministers, asked to monitor black-marketing of important supplies. On Friday three people were arrested from Kanpur for hoarding 50 cylinders containing oxygen, and 64 empty ones. 

Here are some of the latest scenarios of illegal activities

• Madhya Pradesh: Police arrested 8 people on charges of black marketing of Remedesivir injection in Ujjain.

 "5 injections have been recovered from them. They have sold 20-25 injections so far. Injections have been sold for around Rs. 30,000." added Senior Police of Ujjain.

• Indore: Five people were arrested in two separate incidents by Indore Police for black marketing of Remdesivir injections in Lasudia.
• Chattisgarh: Four persons were arrested for black marketing of Remdesivir injection in Raipur, on Sunday. Interestingly, the cyber cell team acted as a customer and asked the suspected to buy Remdesivir. The police have been acting as the needy to nab the culprit red-handed. They made a trap to arrest the culprits in most of the cases.
• Jalandhar: The health department team busted a medical centre, which was blacking out the Remedesivir injection. The team has caught an employee of MGK Medical Center in Kukki Dhab on trap. Two injections have been recovered from the accused, which he came to sell for 10,000 rupees, while its price is quite low. The accused was handed over to the police and then after some time, the doctor running the centre was also apprehended.
• Ghaziabad: Police raided godowns in different locations of the district on Sunday and arrested two men in an ongoing special drive to check the black marketing of medical oxygen cylinders, officials said. Police teams raided a house and arrested Akil Saifi where 39 oxygen cylinders were recovered. Upon questioning, he gave the names and addresses to the teams involved in the crime. City Superintendent (1st) Nipun Agarwal told reporters. Upon getting the inputs from Saifi, police conducted a search and arrested Javed from whom they seized 38 oxygen gas cylinders. The two men told the police that they were charging between Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 per cylinder. In total, police have recovered 101 cylinders out of which 30 were filled and the others were empty, the SP added.

Amid the shortage of necessities, patients in hospitals of Delhi, Punjab, and other states have even lost their lives. Several states have even installed control rooms to monitor the situation and keep a record of medicines, and other supplies. The government of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have set a high-level team to ensure no black-marketing is done on the life-saving elements.