The Crime Branch of Mumbai police on Friday, April 9 recovered 272 vials of Remdesivir injections, a key medicine in the treatment of coronavirus, from a shop in Andheri. According to reports, two persons were arrested in this connection.
The police crackdown has come in the backdrop of a severe shortage of the drug in the state.
In a similar incident that took place on Thursday evening, April 2, a 22-year-old man was nabbed from Mumbai's Andheri East with 12 vials of Remdesivir.
The Mumbai police officials said that the vials were stocked for black marketing, even as the Maharashtra government issued a strict warning against hoarding of the drug.
On Thursday evening, Sarfaraz Hussain was nabbed by the crime branch of the Mumbai Police following a tip-off. It is unclear who he was going to deliver the vials to.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to cap the price of Remdesivir between INR 1,100 and INR 1,400 per vial with Health Minister Rajesh Tope calling for slashing the MRP of the key COVID-19 drug.
He made it clear that the price of a Remdesivir injection should not cross INR 1,400. Tope said with a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, the state may need 1.5 lakhs Remdesivir injections daily which would require ramping up of production.
The minister also said that 50,000 vials are currently being used on a daily basis in hospitals. Besides, the Health Minister has advised doctors to be judicious in the use of the injection.
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