4 Hospital Employees Arrested In UP Over 'Unauthorised' COVID-19 Vaccination Drive

The lid blew off the incident after a team of Gautam Buddh Nagar district's health officials reached the site in Dadri area where a "vaccination camp" was underway at a pathology laboratory on Tuesday evening, they said.

COVID-19 Vaccination Drive | File Image

Four hospital employees were arrested and an investigation was launched after they were found administering "unauthorised vaccine" for COVID-19 to people in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida, police said on Wednesday.

The lid blew off the incident after a team of Gautam Buddh Nagar district's health officials reached the site in Dadri area where a "vaccination camp" was underway at a pathology laboratory on Tuesday evening, they said.

The camp was being organized by the Ghaziabad-based Flores Hospital and those held from the spot said they were "authorised" by the hospital to administer the vaccine to some people at the pathology lab, according to the FIR lodged at Dadri police station.

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"Those arrested have been identified as Rizwan Ali, Sudhakar Yadav, Suresh Kumar Singh and Sanjay Shrivastava, all employees of the hospital. They have been arrested for administering unauthorised COVID-19 vaccine," a police spokesperson said.

Besides them, hospital administrator Mahesh Chaudhary, pathology owner Vikas Vashisht and a local NGO Nari Raksha Dal, which had supported the vaccine camp, have been named in the FIR, the official added.

According to the FIR lodged on a complaint by a health department official, the pathology was not registered and the vaccine camp was being held there without informing the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration or the health department.

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Moreover, the vials for the vaccine were found stored in conditions against the laid-out protocols, while none of the four employees of the hospital present there was a qualified MBBS doctor, the FIR stated.

Around 15 people had been administered the vaccine by the hospital employees during the camp before the health department officials seized the remaining vials, syringes and other equipment and handed it over to the police.

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The FIR was lodged under Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating) besides medical-related offences, the police said.