Fadnavis : Mumbai Police of Harassing Remdesivir Supplier
A row has erupted in Maharashtra over the BJP allegedly procuring Remdesivir from Daman to donate it to the state.
While Maharashtra scales new highs of COVID-19 cases every day. Hospitals & doctors in the state are overburdened and there is a severe shortage of medicines like remdesivir and oxygen tanks as well. Remdesivir is an important drug used to treat COVID-19 and there are many cases where it is being sold in black. Currently the sale of Remdesivir private or its export is not allowed. It has to go through the Maharashtra State Government. The Mumbai Police said they had received a tip that a company called Bruck Pharma had stored 60,000 vials of Remdesivir, when there is a severe shortage in the state. Police said according to the Tip, the vials were going to be exported out of Maharashtra. But the Maharashtra government was completely unaware about this large stock of Remdesivir. On 17th April at around 10pm at night the Mumbai Police went to a Bruck Pharma’s executive’s home and got him to the Vile Parle Police Station to question him about the drug. Around 12am Ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis himself came to the police station to sort out the matter.
Fadnavis said, “He said the BJP did not purchase the drugs for themselves. BJP leaders had contacted Bruck Pharma to supply the stock to Maharashtra as the state is facing a shortage of Remdesivir vials. It was an act of goodwill. We even informed the state Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Minister about it and approached the Central Government and got all necessary permissions. Fadnavis said it is a shame that Mumbai police is mistreating & harassing the executive when all the proper permissions were in place. The police said they were just doing their job about investigating the matter. They have let the executive go, did not file any complaint and did not seize any of the medicines. Shiv Sena spokesperson Harshal Pradhan said, “How did BJP purchase the drug when the medicine is only supposed to be sold to the state government? This is completely illegal as a political party can not do this.” A huge battle has erupted between the state government and the BJP in maharashtra. Both are blaming each other for politicising an important medicine during such a difficult time.
