Authorities at the District Hospital in Kondapur, Hyderabad have registered a complaint with the Gachibowli police after 500 vials of Covishield were allegedly stolen from the hospital. The hospital superintendent reportedly suspects the ward boy for the theft as he was moving suspiciously, reported NewsMeter. The incident came to light on Friday.
The hospital superintendent learnt about the vaccines going missing on Wednesday. A day later, after they could not find the boxes, they approached the police. The hospital superintendent who examined the CCTV in the hospital, reportedly found the ward boy, identified as Anjaiah, moving suspiciously near the refrigerated room where the vaccines were stored. The police have registered a case, and the probe is underway.
Meanwhile, the Panjagutta police on Friday arrested a pharmacist and security guard of a private hospital located in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, for allegedly stealing three vials of Amphotericin-B injection used for the treatment of black fungus from the hospital. According to police, the duo sold the medicines to others. Each vial of the drug, AmBisome, is reportedly being sold for Rs 7,814.
The complainant, pharmacy head Mallikarjuna Rao, had suspected the involvement of the duo since they were on duty on the night when the medicines went missing.
Due to the health crisis prevailing during the pandemic, similar offences are being reported across the state.
On Friday, the Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force police arrested two offenders, D Bhuvaneshwar Raju, 37, a businessman and K Manasa, 32, for illegally selling Remdesivir and Methylprednisolone Sodium Succinate injections, which is used in COVID-19 treatment. Police seized 12 Remdesivir injection vials and 40 Methylprednisolone Sodium Succinate vials from the accused.
“The accused were obtaining each Remdesivir vial for Rs 3,490 and each Methylprednisolone Sodium Succinate vial for Rs 1,590 from known medicine dealers and selling them to needy clients for Rs 15,000 a vial,” task force inspector K Nageswara Rao said.
The police had laid a trap and caught the accused at Nimantran Hotel in Secunderabad and seized the injection vials from their possession. The accused were handed over to Market police for further probe.