A doctor and two medical lab assistants posted at a primary health centre have been arrested for selling Remdesivir illegally and issuing fake Covid test reports for Rs 500. Another doctor from the same PHC has been arrested for selling Remdesivir on the black market.
A police team led by Najma Farooq, ACP, Halasurgate, arrested the doctor on SP Road after a decoy operation on Wednesday.
Policemen approached him by posing as the relative of a patient seeking Remdesivir. He agreed to provide a vial of Remdesivir for Rs 25,000, five times the MRP of its most expensive version.
The seller turned out to be Dr B Shekhar, a 25-year-old medical officer posted at the PHC in Chamarajpet.
Dr Shekhar later told the police the injection was supplied by Dr Prajwala, his colleague at the PHC. Police arrested both of them and seized 11 vials of Remdesivir.
Hours before that, police nabbed Sai Kishore, 22, a lab assistant, when he came to Banappa Park to allegedly issue fake Covid test reports to the public. Kishore revealed the names of Mohan Y, 29, his colleague at the lab, and Dr Shekhar. Both Kishore and Mohan collected swab samples at the Chamarajpet PHC.
Kishore told police he and Mohan issued fake Covid test reports for Rs 500. Dr Shekhar has long been suspected to be involved in irregularities. While he has been accused in both cases, Dr Prajwala has been named only in the Remdesivir case.