Four Muzaffarpur lab technicians among 5 held for selling test kits to private hospitals

PATNA: The Muzaffarpur police on Monday busted a racket involved in sale of antigen kits meant for two government hospitals – sadar hospital and Sakra referral hospital – and arrested five people, including four lab technicians of the health department.
Around 4,000 antigen and PPE kits were seized from a house at Susta Markan village under the Sakra police station in the district.The antigen test kits were being sold to different private hospitals in Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Samastipur districts.
Sources said one Luv Kumar, a lab technician posted at sadar hospital, was arrested on Saturday on charges of selling antigen test kits.
During interrogation, Luv disclosed the names of his associates who were involved in the illegal trade. The police later arrested Mukesh Anand, Deepak, Mithilesh Kumar and Awadhesh Kumar Salaskar. While Mukesh and Deepak were serving as lab assistants at the sadar hospital, Mithilesh used to run an ambulance on the same campus. Awadesh, on the other hand, was posted as lab technician at Sakra referral hospital in the district.
The accused used to collect antigen test kits from the sadar hospital and Sakra referral hospital by furnishing fake documents and ID proofs and subsequently sell them to private hospitals. Sanjay Thakur, a close relative of Luv, used to contact the private hospitals for supplying the test kits.
During preliminary investigation, it came to light that 400 antigen test kits were being sold to the private hospitals per day on an average. The private hospitals used to charge from people anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 for each test.
Muzaffarpur (east) DSP Sanjay Pandey said a huge quantity of test kits, sanitizers and gloves was seized from Susta Markan village. The consignment was stocked there for supply to different private hospitals in the district and its adjoining areas.
“An FIR has been lodged with the Sakra police station in this connection,” the DSP said, adding more people were involved in the illegal sale of test kits.
Meanwhile, the health department has initiated a probe into the matter.