Trump Urges PM Modi To Release Hydroxychloroquine Orders Placed By US

During the Saturday evening press interaction with White House reporters US President Donald Trump said that he had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not hold back on hydroxychloroquine orders placed by the US with Indian pharmaceutical companies.

While adding that India was giving the request a serious consideration Trump also said added that “..they(India) make large amounts of hydroxychloroquine, very large amounts, frankly, and they had a hold, because, you know, they have 1.5 billion people. and they (need) a lot of it”.

India is among the biggest producers of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine. The export of the same from India was barred on March 25. India has also begun actively using the drug as a prophylactic for medical professionals currently working with Covid-19 patients.

While the export ban notification does allow for exceptions on humanitarian grounds, India has so far not made a comment on US President's push for allowing the drug to be exported to America.

Chloroquine, or hydroxychloroquine, has been used to treat malaria since 1944. It can be given before exposure to malaria to prevent infection, and it can also be given as treatment afterward. Malaria is a disease that is caused by a parasite, unlike COVID-19. Nevertheless, laboratory studies show chloroquine is effective at preventing as well as treating the virus that causes a severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a close cousin of COVID-19.

The drug was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for therapeutic use among coronavirus patients because of its "very very encouraging" results, US President Donald Trump announced on March 20.

Trump had said the drug could prove to be a "gamechanger" and if it is not, the downside risks are likely to be low.

"We've got very very encouraging early results. And we're going to be able to make that drug available. Almost immediately. And that''s where the FDA has been so great, they've gone through the approval process, it's been approved," Trump had said.

According to Trump, the drug is yielding positive results. If successful, he told reporters that it would be a gift from heaven.

In the next several weeks, health experts in the US has projected between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths due to coronavirus, which due to human-to-human transmission is spreading like a wildfire in the US.

In anticipation of it being a successful drug in the treatment of coronavirus, the US has already stockpiled some 29 million doses.

It is in this context Trump requested Modi to help US get millions of doses of Hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug that can be produced at mass scale in India.

Trump said he would appreciate if India releases the amount of Hydroxychloroquine that the US has ordered.

"And I said I would appreciate if they (India) would release the amounts that we ordered," he said, without mentioning that quantity of Hydroxychloroquine that has been ordered by US companies from India.

The Trump administration has made Hydroxychloroquine as part of its Strategic National Stockpile.

Trump said that people in malaria affected-countries take Hydroxychloroquine and not many people are infected by coronavirus.

Trump said that he would take Hydroxychloroquine, if needed.

"I think people should if it were me, in fact, I might do it anyway. I may take it, Ok? I may take it. And, I'll have to ask my doctors about that, but I may take it," he said in response to a question.

Also read: Coronavirus: Health Ministry Declares Hydroxychloroquine A Schedule H1 Drug; Here’s What It Means