Bangkok hospital director summoned for allegedly smuggling Favipiravir
The Bangkok hospital director who allegedly smuggled hundreds of boxes of Favipiravir antiviral pills, which are used to treat Covid-19, has been summoned by police. Last week, officers seized 390 boxes of Favipiravir and arrested nine people who were allegedly involved in selling the pills on social media at five times higher than the standard price.
Officers from the Consumer Protection Police Division say they had received a tip about the director of the private hospital allegedly smuggling the antiviral drugs out of the hospital. Police checked the hospital in question, which was not named in reports, and found that the hospital recorded the purchase order for Favipiravir pills, but there was no record of Covid-19 patients receiving treatment at the hospital.
Police seized the antiviral drugs in a series of raids in Bangkok, Saraburi, Pathum Thani, and Nonthaburi. According to a previous Bangkok Post article, the medication had originally been acquired from the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation by the hospital in Bangkok’s Bang Na area. The hospital director allegedly sold each box for 1,600 baht, and then online vendors sold the drugs at 4,000 to 8,000 baht per box.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
