24 Nurses, Pharmacists Detained for Hoarding Covid-19 Therapeutic Drugs
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4 August 2021 20:52 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Metro Police had again disclosed a case of Covid-19 therapeutic drugs hoarding. The city’s police spokesman Comr. Yusri Yunus said 24 people consisting of nurses and pharmacists were suspected of being involved in the crime.
“They purchased Covid therapeutic drugs in pharmacies at standard prices and falsified doctor's prescriptions. They cooperated with the pharmacists,” said Yusri at Jakarta Police HQ, South Jakarta, Wednesday, August 4.
They then hoarded the medicines and resold them at high prices. For example, they bought Actemra at Rp1.1 million per box and sold them for up to Rp40 million per box.
In addition, nurses suspected in this case also stole medicines belonged to a Covid-19 patient who succumbed to the illness.
The 24 suspects were identified as BC, MS, AH, RS, LO, RH, TF, NN, SJ, MS, MH, RB, AH, SO, YN, HH, AA, UF, LP, DW, MI, MR, DS, and MD.
However, Yusri declined to reveal detailed information about where the suspects conducted the crime as he was worried that this could reduce public confidence in health workers, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The suspects of the Covid-19 therapeutic drugs hoarding were charged with Article 196 and/or Article 198 of Law No. 36 of 2009 on Health and/or Article 62 in conjunction with Article 10 of Law No. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection. They were threatened with up to 10 years in prison.
Read: Police Nab 37 Suspects in Covid-19 Therapeutic Drugs, Oxygen Tank Cases
M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH
