Jabalpur, May 7 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to form special teams in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur to nab black marketers of Remdesivir, an anti-viral injection used in COVID-19 treatment, and other life-saving medicines.

The court issued the directions to the DGP on Thursday while hearing a bunch of petitions, including a suo motu (on its own) petition about the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The court's direction came on submissions of the petitioners' counsels about rampant black marketing of Remdesivir and other life-saving drugs in cities such as Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur, amicus curiae senior advocate Naman Nagrath said on Friday.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Atul Sreedhran said, "We direct the Director General of Police to constitute special teams in these cities and other major places to trace out all such black marketers."

The court further asked the DGP to take stern action against not only the black marketers of the drugs, but also the persons from whom they procure the medicines.

With regard to complaints of overcharging and exploitation of patients by private hospitals and diagnostic centres, the advocate general submitted that citizens can lodge a complaint with district collectors who will examine it through a district-level committee, the counsel said.

The state government has constituted district-level committees on May 4 to look into the grievances of patients, he said.

"Private hospitals have a grievance about the allocation of Remdesivir. Some are allotted insufficient number of vials, while others get a huge quantity. Similarly, some hospitals get a fixed number of injections from the government, while some direct procure the drug from manufacturers and stockists," he said.

The state government counsel has sought some time to file a reply on this matter and an order, if required, will be issued to ensure uniformity, he said.

The amicus curiae submitted that the state government is giving priority to state-run hospitals, while private hospitals are not provided with oxygen in a timely manner, resulting in shortage and unfortunate deaths.

The court directed the state government "to clarify this position by demonstrating how equitable the distribution of oxygen is on the next date of hearing".

The court further directed the state "to take remedial measures to ensure that no private hospital is deprived of oxygen", the counsel said.

The court directed the respondents "to continue to implement and act upon the directions earlier issued by this court orders dated April 19 and April 30".

The petitions are fixed for the next hearing on May 17.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)