India to continue export of Covid-19 related drugs

New Delhi: Putting to rest all speculation, India today, April 7, announced that it would continue to export Covid-19 related drugs.

“Like any responsible government, our first obligation is to ensure that there are adequate stocks of medicines for the requirement of our own people. In order to ensure this, some temporary steps were taken to restrict exports of a number of pharmaceutical products,” said Mr. Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.  “In the meanwhile, a comprehensive assessment was made of possible requirements under different scenarios. After having confirmed the availability of medicines for all possible contingencies currently envisaged, these restrictions have been largely lifted.”

The Director General of Foreign Trade has notified lifting restrictions on 14 drugs yesterday, April 6.

However,  paracetamol and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ),  will continue to be kept in a licensed category and their demand position would be “continuously monitored”.

Mr. Srivastava said that the stock position of these drugs could allow companies to meet the export commitments that they had contracted.

“India has always maintained that the international community must display strong solidarity and cooperation,” the spokesperson said in a release, pointing out that  “This approach also guided our evacuation of nationals of other countries.”

India will be licensingl paracetamol and HCQ in “appropriate quantities” to all the neighbouring countries “who are dependent on our capabilities,” the release said.

In what was possibly a reference to the US, which had asked for speeded up supplies of the Hydroxychloroquine drug, the ministry said India will also be supplying these essential drugs to “some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic.”

There has been no conclusive scientific evidence that hydroxychloroquine can treat the infection from the novel pathogen. However, doctors have been using it to treat Covid-19 patients.

US. President Donald Trump had called the drug a “game changer” in the treatment of novel Coronavirus. At   a press conference on Saturday, 4 April, the US President had said that he had appealed for the release of shipments the US has already ordered during a phonecall with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Covid-19 cases have spiked in both India and the US.

The US has recorded 367,629 Covid-19 positive cases with 10,941 deaths.

In India, meanwhile, the death toll from Covid-19 has climbed to 136 with 4778 total positive cases.