look news india
A major case of life-saving medicines worth ₹ 1 lakh per vial (injection) sent to poor and needy cancer patients under the Free Medicine Scheme of Rajasthan Government, has come to light in the black market of Delhi. After the raid on the interstate drug syndicate by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, the layers of this serious game have started to unravel. There has been a stir in the entire administrative and medical department after the confirmation of expensive cancer injections purchased by the Health Department of Rajasthan Government disappearing from government hospitals and reaching smugglers in Delhi.
Supply link of Rajasthan found in Delhi Police raid
The Inter-State Cell and Crime Branch of Delhi Police recently arrested members of an illegal drug smuggling gang and recovered more than 22 expensive oncology and immunotherapy drugs and more than ₹27 lakh in cash from them. The seized medicines included 4 vials of ‘Bavencio’ (Bavencio 200mg/10ml – Avelumab). When the police sought records of its specific batch number (AU052510) from the drug manufacturing company, official verification revealed that the entire batch was sent to ‘Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation Limited’ (RMSCL) for government supply.
Medicines were being sold in the black market after removing the government seal.
The official markings and labels of Rajasthan Government ‘Government Supply – Not for Sale’ had been deliberately scratched off from these injections recovered from the possession of smugglers. It is also suspected in the investigation that the empty vials left after being used by patients in hospitals or the original injections were stolen directly from the stock and were being sold at high prices in the private markets of Delhi and Mumbai.
Health Minister ordered high level investigation
Seeing the seriousness of the matter, Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar has given instructions to constitute a high level investigation committee with immediate effect. The investigation team has been asked to meticulously examine the stock registers, indents, dispatch details and patient distribution records from the central warehouse of RMSCL to the major medical colleges and cancer institutes of Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur (such as Acharya Tulsi Cancer Institute, Bikaner). Bikaner’s PBM Hospital and SP Medical College administration have also started an internal investigation on this.
Suspicion of collusion between hospital workers and middlemen in the syndicate
Delhi Crime Branch has issued a notice to the Managing Director of RMSCL seeking all the documents related to the purchase, receipt, storage and distribution of this batch and the names of the responsible officers. The investigating agencies fear that such expensive medicines cannot be taken out from the store room to the ward of the hospital without some organized gang and insider collusion. It is also being investigated whether medicines were being sold in the market in the name of fake patients by showing them issued on paper.