A text message has been doing rounds on messaging platform WhatsApp that claims to have contact numbers of people, who can help COVID patients buy Remdesivir injections easily. India is currently witnessing a shortage of medicines, oxygen and hospital beds amid a lethal second wave of the pandemic. Remdesivir is ordinarily sold between Rs 2,500 and Rs 4,500 in Indian markets, with price variation depending on the manufacturer.

The WhatsApp forward begins with a “thank you” message for Cipla, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company, which is one of the producers of the drug. It then informs users that to avoid black marketing of Remdesivir, Cipla is directly delivering the injections to the COVID patients admitted in hospitals. This is helpful to reduce the involvement of dealers, sellers and hospitals in the process, it says.

The text contains a total of 23 phone numbers, including the Cipla customer care number and Hetero Healthcare helpline number. Hyderabad-based Hetero Healthcare is one of India’s generic pharmaceutical companies. 

The message also suggests patients saving these numbers in their contact list and send their doctor’s prescription, medical report and Aadhaar card on WhatsApp. Unconfirmed bank account details of Hetero Healthcare is also given in the text.

To verify whether a person in need can actually reach out to these people, Opoyi called on each number and what we found was not so surprising. Either the phone numbers were unreachable or nobody picked our calls. 

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However, in case of the helpline numbers, pre-recorded voice and text messages told us that our calls were getting registered and due to the heavy demand of Remdesivir, their executives will get back to us in 4-5 days. 

This is not just one text that has been circulating on social media. Multiple messages claiming to have original contacts of chemists, pharmaceutical firms and blood donors are fooling the patients, whose lives are at stake.