Seven pharmaceutical Indian companies have been accused of recycling used syringes, leading to the recent deaths of 64 people in a Hepatitis B outbreak in Gujarat, western India, said local TV network NDTV Sunday.
Four large warehouses in and around Modasa in Gujarat, where used syringes are stocked waiting for to be sold, have been discovered by NDTV crew, said the nation's leading news channel, Xinhua reported.
The used syringes were believed to be the source of the Hepatitis B outbreakw which claimed the lives of at least 64 people and made hundreds infested with the killer liver disease.
The Gujarat Health Department swung into action by sending 12 teams to the field to launch raids across the state, after NDTV informed state Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas about what it had found in Modasa, said the TV report.
In raids across Gujarat, at least 15 doctors were booked by police while government sealed 15 private clinics and recovered over 10,000 kilograms of other used syringe in Ahmedabad, the state capital of Gujarat, and the nearby city of Gandhinagar, said the report.
NDTV caught on camera a syringe dealer, only namned Saijuddin, who bought thousands of used syringes from private clinics and hospitals everyday and sold them to regular buyers. The man has been arrested by police.