Customer protection service steps in to curb price abuses in hand sanitizers, hydroxychloroquine in São Paulo

On the first day of quarantine in São Paulo state, the local customer protection service (Procon) informed that 346 out of 449 visited shops were instructed to present fiscal receipts of their hand sanitizer purchases and sellings, in order to ensure companies are not profiteering off primary care products. The remaining shops were not selling the product. 

The visits happened from March 16 to March 23, therefore, partially before Governor João Doria announced supermarkets and drugstore chains would sell hand sanitizers at cost price, as an attempt to maintain the supply for the entire population. Purchases are limited to 2 units per person, though. 

Procon has also demanded explanations from the National Association of Pharmaceutical Input Importers and Resellers due to complaints of a steep increase in hydroxychloroquine prices. The product has been announced by president Jair Bolsonaro as a potential cure for Covid-19, despite the fact that medicine’s effectiveness against coronavirus has not yet to be established concretely by medical science.

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