Mumbai Police Detains Brucke Pharma For Excess Remdesivir Stock, BJP Comes To Rescue

Recently, the Maharashtra Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fought over the supply of Remdesivir, a crucial drug for COVID-19 patients. The drug/injection is an important life saver for the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 patients in India. However, the drugs are in shortage and even sold through black marketing.  

In the past few days, after repeated requests from the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the supply of Remdesivir is less in the State, which is also the worst COVID-19 hit State in India.

To fuel the ongoing tug of war over supply, an incident occurred on the night of the 17th of April. On Saturday night, the Mumbai Police detained Brucke Pharma owner Rajesh Dokaniya and said a truckload of Remdesivir worth Rs. 4.75 crores was caught.

Rajesh Dokaniya said they were trying to export 60,000 vials despite an export ban. However, late in the evening, the BJP leader and the former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar went to the police station and asserted that Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had asked him to supply the maximum Remdesivir to Maharashtra.

Mr. Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP privately bought the stock from a Gujarat pharma company to distribute the drug to the people of Maharashtra. Mr. Devendra Fadnavis said, “Pravin Darekar had gone to Daman four days ago and requested Brucke Pharma to give production to Maharashtra. They said we need permission as we just have an export licence.” He further added, “I personally requested Mansukh Mandaviya-ji and he got the permission under Dr Reddy’s to produce.” He even accused the Maharashtra Government of playing “cheap politics” over Remdesivir injection supply and shortage.

Meanwhile, the ruling Government, Shiv Sena leader Priyannka Chaturvedi took to Twitter and said, “If this isn’t backstabbing the people of Maharashtra for his cheap politics then what is? A leader of opposition is hoarding an emergency drug procured secretly & when seized fights with Mumbai Police. Shame Mr. Fadnavis. Your midnight shenanigans were exposed once and now again.”

Aaditya Thackeray, the Shiv Sena Minister said, “We are trying to restrict (the) hoarding of Remdesivir. It is for all of us to step up beyond politics at this point.”

In addition, activist Saket Gokhale also raised questions over how Mr. Fadnavis or the BJP, as private players, could get the crucial drug when sale is allowed only to the government. Questions were also raised like why Devendra Fadnavis did not inform the State Government about the purchase of Remdesivir privately, if it was for the people of Maharashtra. It is to be noted, private purchase and procurement of Remdesivir is illegal. Of all the questions, the most important is how Devendra Fadnavis was allowed to move the stock of such crucial limited drugs sneakily, especially when Nawab Mallick of the Maharashtra Government presented documents which mentioned, the Central Government had asked suppliers to stop supply to Maharashtra Government.

On the 17th of April, the Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik accused the centre of not giving permission to units producing Remdesivir to sell it to Maharashtra. He said it is “sad and shocking” that when the Government of Maharashtra asked the 16 export companies for Remdesivir, “We were told that the Central Government has asked them not to supply the medicine to Maharashtra. These companies were warned, if they did, their license would be cancelled”.

However, the BJP leaders and Union Ministers denied the allegations. A BJP leader Mansukh Mandaviya said the Centre is doubling the production of Remdesivir and supplying it to Maharashtra as a priority basis.

Meanwhile, the situation of COVID-19 is worsening in Maharashtra. People are suffering from a shortage of oxygen, hospitals have less staff, beds are unavailable and the number of cases is increasing rapidly.

As of now, Maharashtra alone contributes more than 5 lakh active cases of the Novel Coronavirus, which is more than 40 % of active cases in India.