6 Held Selling Narcotic Medicines at Hospital

Hyderabad: In a combined operation, the TS Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TS-NAB), Drugs Control Authority (DCA) and Cyberabad special operations team (SOT) raided Sameer Hospitals, Mehdipatnam, and arrested six persons including its chairman for procurement and sale of the narcotic-based drug fentanyl citrate without a licence.

The accused were identified as hospital chairman Shoaib Subhani, 37. director Mohd Abdul Mujeeb, 47, pharmacist Syed Naseeruddin, 28, sales executive Mohd. Zaffer, 27, and Gopu Srinivas, 25, managing partner of Medicare Pharma Distributors of Himayatnagar. Another accused, Dr Ahsan Mustafa Khan, is absconding, said TS-NAB chief Sandeep Shandilya.

There was connivance between the distributor, the hospital management and forgery done in the name of an oncologist from Nandyal, Shandilya said.

He said that fentanyl citrate is probe to abuse by drug consumers and the DCA had therefore put restrictions on its supply, possession and usage. Fentanyl can be only sold to hospitals and nursing homes with a licence. The accused were selling the medicine at Rs.5,000 a shot.

On December 12 last, one of the accused secured 100 fentanyl Injections on 20 prescriptions citing treatment of patients with various ailments. Shandilya said Sameer Hospital was neither maintaining records of pharmacy nor having a qualified pharmacist. “We have cancelled the existing licences,” he said.