They stopped it for a reason: Trump hails India’s position on hydroxychloroquine

New Delhi, Apr 08: India had informed the US State Department about the change in the drug policy before President Donald Trump had spoken about a possible retaliation.

India on Tuesday said that in the view of the humanitarian aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been decided that India would licence paracetamol and hydroxychloroquine in appropriate quantities to all our neighbouring countries who are dependant on our capabilities.

Meanwhile Trump in an interview with Fox News said that he bought millions of doses. More than 29 million. I spoke with Modi. A lot comes out of India. I asked him if he would release it. He was great. He was really good, Trump said.

He also added that India had put a stop because they wanted it for India. "But there are a lot of things coming from that. Lot of people are looking at it and saying, you known I don't hear bad stories. I hear good stories. I do not hear anything where it was causing death. So it is not something like.... You know we are doing vaccines. Johnson and Johnson, they need to test that. It seems that malaria affected countries are unaffected where it is common."

On the other hand, Trump went after both WHO and China. The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation, he said in a Tweet.

India's stand on hydroxychloroquine was largely due to domestic needs and other commitments. An official told OneIndia that there are commitments and responsibilities towards the neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and they both depend on Indian drugs.

The Ministry of External Affairs had said that it would supply paracetamol and hydroxychloroquine to countries that are badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Anurag Srivastava, External Affairs ministry, spokesperson said that India will also be supplying essential drugs to some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic. We would therefore discourage any speculation in this regard or any attempts to politicise the matter, Srivastava further added.

India has decided that orders from other countries would be cleared only after the domestic requirements are met.

On March 25 the Indian government had banned the exports of hydroxycloroquine to ensure that there was adequate domestic supply. Last week, India further tightened the rules by barring exports of hydroxycloroquine and formulations made from it from special economic zones and export oriented units.