Three people were arrested for allegedly smuggling favipiravir, molnupiravir and remdesivir medicine worth 10 million baht from India and authorities will destroy the drugs.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that in the sting operations officials seized 80,000 pills from the suspects who sold the medicine via social media. Identified only as Prasert, Khanittha and Chaluayrat, they were liable to a jail term of up to five years and a fine of up to 10,000 baht for the unauthorized sales of medicine and a jail term of up to three years and/or a fine of up to 5,000 baht for the sales of unregistered medicine.
MrAnutin said that officials would not check if the seized medications were real or fake but would destroy them. Wrongdoers would be punished for putting buyers at risk because the latter could not know if they bought real and safe medications or not. He confirmed that the government procured enough medicine from qualified manufacturers for COVID-19 patients who should receive antivirals if they had symptoms and their doctors approved drug use for them.
Pol Maj Gen Anant Nanasombat, commander of the Consumer Protection Police Division, said the three suspects smuggled the medicine from India and kept it at two houses in Wang Thonglang and Taling Chan districts of Bangkok. MrPrasert was earlier an importer of Indian milk and butter and turned to smuggle the drugs during the COVID-19 crisis. He mailed the drugs to buyers who could never know if they receive effective drugs, the commander said.
Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary for public health, said that from January to July the government used 265 million favipiravir pills, 12 million molnupiravir pills and 37,000 bottles of remdesivir.
The present stocks of the drugs would be enough for 14 days’ use and they included 2.8 million pills of favipiravir and molnupiravir and 7,000 bottles of remdesivir. The government was procuring more of the antivirals and would order 10 million pills of favipiravir, 20 million pills of molnupiravir and 80,000 bottles of remdesivir in the near future, he said. (TNA)
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