COVID-19 in Maharashtra: Doctor, three ward boys arrested for alleged Remdesivir theft

Three hospital ward boys and a doctor have been taken into custody for allegedly stealing Remdesivir injections from dead COVID-19 patients in order to sell them in the black market, Nagpur Deputy Commissioner of Police V Neelotpal informed on Friday.

"The four work in different hospitals and 15 vials of the injection, in high demand amid a spike in coronavirus cases, have been seized from them," the DCP added. 

"When a patient used to die, they would enter the room in PPE kits, steal Remdesivir injections lying unused around and then sell each vial for as much as Rs 5,000. A ward boy was also supplying them these injections for Rs 3,500 and the accused were selling it for Rs 16,000. They have been doing this for the past 10 days, we have found out. Another doctor and ward boy is also on the radar in this case," he said.

The four were remanded in police custody till April 28, the DCP informed and identified the accused as Dr. Lokesh Shahu, and ward boys Shubham Mohdure, Kunal Kohale, and Sumit Bangde. Officials said the four were held after Nagpur police commissioner Amitesh Kumar received a tip-off about this racket.

On Friday, the Maharashtra government mandated that Remdesivir will be provided only through collectors and area drug inspectors. Issuing a toll-free number (1800222365), the government has urged citizens to contact the local area drug inspector via the number, to procure Remdesivir. Maharashtra, which has been worst hit by COVID-19 is grappling with an acute shortage of oxygen, beds, and Remdesivir.

COVID-19 Tally In Maharashtra 

Maharashtra recorded 63,729 novel coronavirus cases taking the State's COVID-19 tally to 37,03,584. At present, there are 6,38,034 active cases in the State. With 43,335 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number recovered soared to 30,04,391. With Mumbai recording 8839 cases in the day, it remains a major novel coronavirus hotspot in the state. 398 deaths, 53 from Mumbai, 44 from Pune, 35 from Ahmednagar, 31 from Nanded, 29 from Nashik, 23 from Nagpur, 21 from Latur, 12 each from Buldhana, Amravati and Osmanabad, 9 from Nandurbar, 8 each from Thane and Jalgaon, 7 each from Parbhani, Jalna and Ratnagiri, 6 each from Solapur, Sangli, Wardha and Chandrapur, 5 each from Yavatmal, Sindhudurg and Mira Bhayandar, 4 from Washim, three each from Beed, Hingoli, Kolhapur, Pimpri Chinchwad and Vasai Virar, two from Bhiwandi and one each from Gondia, Aurangabad, Dhule, Raigad, and Panvel were reported on Friday.