Health Ministry: We Have Enough Hydroxychloroquine To Last One Month

New Delhi: The Joint Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Lav Agarwal told the media on Friday that India has thrice as much hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as is currently needed. He added that there are at present, at least 3.28 crore tablets of the anti-malarial drug that will last a month's needs. Agarwal observed that the Union government decided to export the drug factoring in several variables.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) took the decision to release some of the surplus stock of HCQ for export. However, it evaluated the domestic requirements thoroughly, he added. The senior Health Ministry official pointed out that several requests for the supply of HCQ were already pending. The GoM after assessing the nation's requirement and available domestic stock took the decision to release some of the surplus HCQ.

Agarwal told the media that while evaluating the requirements and available stock, the GoM had set aside enough buffer as well. He added that next week the country would require more than one crore HCQ tablets for domestic consumption. India currently has more than 3.28 crore of domestic supplies, he said and added that this would cover a month's needs.

Echoing the thoughts of PM Modi and Union Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan among others, Agarwal requested people not to misbehave with frontline healthcare professionals.

Agarwal announced that confirmed cases of Coronavirus in India have gone up to 6,412 with 678 confirmed cases since Thursday. The death toll has gone up to 199 with 33 new deaths. The senior Health Ministry official also announced that the amount of Rs 15,000 crore sanctioned by the Centre on Thursday would be distributed among states to help hospitals procure equipment and upgrade infrastructure which is sorely needed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.