‘Black marketing of medicines is the biggest reason we are suffering’

While hundreds of people are losing their lives in the second wave of Covid-19, due to the unavailability of basic medical facilities, some are exploiting the crisis by black marketing and selling fake medicines.

Miffed with this lot, actor Vineet Kumar Singh shares his own experience of battling Covid-19 along with some of his family members. “I understand that the demand has been sudden, and hence the availability is less. The balance has been uneven. There’s one chair and 10 people want to sit on it. I sensed this when I called my friend for some medicines and said this is what’s happening. He said, ‘Vineet, apne logon ko bacha lo, medicine ki dikkat ho rahi hai’. He’s my childhood buddy, he’d never say something like that,” recalls the Mukkabaaz (2017) actor.

He tried searching for the medicines with his friends, but to no avail. That’s when he tweeted and actor Pankaj Tripathi helped him out.

“Everyone told us to come the next day. Black marketing is the biggest reason we’re suffering today. This is wrong, and such people should be investigated. In logon ne itna tehas nehas karke rakh diya hai sab kuch. Someone had something [medicines], they held on to it while patients are asking and attendants are running here and there. System hila ke rakh diya in logon ne,” he rues.

The actor himself has since been trying to help people via social media and all those reaching out to him personally. “Pankaj ji called one of his friends, who called someone he knew, and even then I got a different brand. We were told, ‘Yeh bhi jaise taise bhej raha hoon, kaam chala lo’. After that, I tweeted on April 16 and 17 regarding this issue. The problem wasn’t much then. Now people are even asking for hospital beds,” says the actor, who’s “nonstop” trying to help them.