Maharashtra: CVC orders probe in 'mega-corruption' in Remdesivir supplies

Nearly a month after a Maharashtra activist alleged a massive scam in the supplies and availability of key antiviral drug Remdesivir injections the Chief Vigilance Commissioner has finally ordered a probeTaking cognizance of a petition by Barrister Vinod Tiwari the CVC has ordered the Chief Vigilance Officer CVO of Ministry of Chemicals amp Fertilisers to investigate the issue in detailIn a communication to Tiwari dated May 11 the CVC has said that the complaint has been duly examined by the Commission and having regards to the nature of the issues raised therein it has been sent to the CVO of the ministry for a probeThe development comes nearly a month after Tiwaris plea to the Centre on April 13 alleging a rampant corruption scam involving many people and the pharmaceutical sector to sell Remdesivir at exorbitant prices by creating an artificial scarcity in the past few months as first highlighted by IANS April 1617In his petition to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority NPPA a statutory authority under the Drugs Price Control Order DPCO Tiwari had demanded a highlevel probe into the artificial scarcity hoarding blackmarketing and misuse of the drug which could run into a racket of over Rs 25000 crore under the nose of the NPPA in the past ten months since the drug was launched after the pandemic was declaredAlso Read Maharashtra Six held for remdesivir blackmarketing denied bailLakhs of Covid19 patients had been systematically fleeced as the Centre failed to bring Remdesivir under the DPCO the motives for which are not clear and subsequent data indicates the scam could be over Rs 1 lakh crore bigger than the 2G Coalgate or other similar scandals and all those who exploited the people in this pandemic must be booked criminally Tiwari contendedIncidentally rattled by the plea the Centre posthaste brought the drug under the DPCO and slashed the MRP of Remdesivir by around 60 per cent on April 17 though Tiwari feels it can be reduced even further since the pharma companies and other officials have already profited massively from the tragedy of the Covid19 patients and their familiesIncidentally Maharashtra was the first state to make efforts to bring Remdesivir under the ambit of the DPCO but its efforts were allegedly stonewalled by the Centre and othersTiwari has questioned why the NPPA shirked its statutory responsibility to bring Remdesivir under the DPCO regime since as per the DPCO Act 1995 issued under the Essential Commodities Act the Centre is empowered to include any item of medical importance like Remdesivir currently within the DPCO list to control its manufacture stocking distribution sale etc and make it easily available at a reasonable price to the patientsThe Covid19 pandemic is the biggest afflicting mankind since 2020 Why did NPPA wait for so long Whos responsible and what were the ulterior motives behind the delays demanded Tiwari and said that the CVO probe would unravel the truth and the conspiracyThe petition was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Union Ministers DV Sadananda Gowda Harsh Vardhan and Mansukh Mandaviya the Central Vigilance Commission and departments concerned seeking a hearingThe CVC was the first to take note of the plea by seeking more details even as the country reeled under a shortage of Remdesivir with the medical mafia playing havoc with patients who need six doses injections for Covid19 treatmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever