India ‘will do all it can’ to supply US with anti-malaria drug, PM Modi tells Trump
nNEWDELHI/WASHINGTON: India has made it known to the US that it is a “responsible country” and will do all it can to supply hydroxychloroquine, a prophylactic for health care workers fighting against coronavirus, but only after making its own 1.3 billion population secure against the pandemic.
“We will do all what we can” was what PM Narendra Modi told US President Donald Trump during an extensive call on Saturday evening. Besides focusing on bilateral cooperation against the pandemic, Trump recalled his visit to India in late February.
According to government officials, India is stockpiling the drug for its population in the event of the worst case scenario and only then will it lift export control as other countries are doing. India is one of the largest manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine, which has been used for treatment of malaria and lupus.
While India is all for honouring its contracts for supply of this drug to American companies, it is also willing to be on the front line of human clinical trials of a future anti-covid-19 vaccine with its vast body of highly professional doctors, laboratories and transparent feedback to manufacturers. The same may not be possible in African countries or in China.
In the past two weeks, Modi has been working the phone and holding video-conferences with all major global leaders to fight the pandemic. Since the lockdown began, he has spoken to G20 leaders, a majority of Saarc leaders and leaders from Israel, Spain and Brazil.
Supplementing the global effort is external affairs minister S Jaishankar who is in constant touch with counterparts in Gulf countries and has touched base with nearly 100 foreign ministers in the past two months.
Trump said he requested Modi to release orders placed by the US with Indian pharmaceutical companies for hydroxychloroquine doses, which he has personally touted as a gamechanger in the fight against the coronavirus. Trump told reporters at the daily White House briefing on the coronavirus outbreak that he called Modi and urged him to “release the amounts we ordered” and added “they are giving it serious consideration”.
India is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine and banned its export as an active pharmaceutical ingredient and its formulations on March 25, around the time Trump began talking about the need for it to treat Covid-19.