New Delhi, 3rd May 2020: India has placed urgent orders for at least 11.45 crore tablets of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). This drug is being directly procured by HLL Lifecare, on behalf of the Union health ministry. Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL) Lifecare is a government-owned healthcare manufacturing company. According to health ministry   orders for about 11.45 crore tablets to two Indian firms–IPCA laboratories and Zydus Cadila. So far, we have received 6.64 crore HCQ drugs and remaining will arrive by May 16 sources said.

As per revised guidelines on clinical management of Covid-19, the HCQ tablets are only for restricted and prophylaxis use of Covid-19 in selected eligible persons. HCQ is an anti-malarial drug and has only been recommended as prophylaxis of Covid-19 as per the national taskforce for Covid-19. It is not a cure but this protocol has been recommended by the national task force for mostly frontline health care workers and has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for restricted use in an emergency situation. Its selected eligible individuals include: (i) asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19 patients, (ii) asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases, (iii) Covid-19 patients with severe disease requiring ICU management.

These drugs should be administrated under the close medical supervision with monitoring for side effects. This medication is not recommended for children below 12 years, lactating and pregnant mothers. The drug is contraindicated in persons with known cases of retinopathy, known hypersensitivity to HCQ. Out of 6.64 crore HCQ drugs, the centre has distributed at least 4.3 crore HCQ tablets to the states and remaining is kept in the centre-State buffer stock. Some states have purchased about 3.8 crore HCQ tablets from the manufactures directly. Hence, over 10.44 crore HCQ tablets have been available to the states till date.

Several hospitals in USA  use  hydroxychloroquine:

Meanwhile Several hospitals in the United States continue to use malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 positive patients. HCQ was the first drug to receive EAU from FDA for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. US President Donald Trump has been an advocate of use of HCQ, which has reportedly cured patients in New York and several other place.t the request of Trump, India had exported 50 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine to the United States.

Apart from domestic use, India has also exported close to 3 million of HCQ tablets to 87 countries, garnering praise from heads of state of various nations. On Friday, the Central government had informed that the production of HCQ has increased to 30 crore tablets in April from an earlier production capacity of 12.33 crore tablets. A total of 16 crore tablets has been released into the market.

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