Congress working president Ramalinga Reddy: Govt silent as Remdesivir being sold in black market
Working president of the State Congress Ramalinga Reddy
Bengaluru: Working president of the State Congress Ramalinga Reddy, in a letter to Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar, alleged blatant black marketing of Remdesivir and its unavailability to common man.
"It is so unfortunate that this drug is just not available to common man.
People are so ruthless that they are selling this drug at Rs 25,000-30,000 per vial in the grey market. Whereas the MRP of this drug is anywhere between Rs 900- 4,000. How is this drug available to touts and brokers when patients are not getting it?" the letter read.
In the normal scenario the drug is produced by a manufacturer who sells it to the distributor, who in turn sells it to the retailer from whom patients buy against a valid prescription.
Ramalinga Reddy noted in his letter that the government in a bid to check black marketing of Remdesivir has forbidden manufacturers from selling it to distributors and is procuring all the manufactured drugs directly from the company.
"These stocks are held by the drug controller who is supposed to give the injections directly to the hospital where the patient is admitted against a valid prescription without involvement of any middleman.
But what is happening here? Hospitals are complaining that they are not receiving the quantity that they are asking for, neither is the drug available to common people. But how is this most important drug available to brokers who are selling it at such high prices," he further elaborated.
Reddy stated that the State government has lost control over drug controllers, the ADCs who are supposed to monitor safe and secure use of this injection are themselves selling it to middleman and making money in the most possible inhuman way.
"There is a nexus between the drug controller and these middlemen. I urge the government to immediately take the strictest action possible on such officials and middlemen and ensure that this and other essential medicines are easily available to all," the letter read.