The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Tuesday said that all of its staff involved in treating coronavirus patients could ask for hydroxychloroquine tablets from their respective departments. The order by AIIMS administration comes on the day when India announced a relaxation on the export of the crucial medicine, which when taken in combination with another drug, is known for treating symptoms of coronavirus.
"... comprehensive assessment was made of possible requirements under different scenarios. After having confirmed the availability of medicines for all possible contingencies currently envisaged, these restrictions have been largely lifted," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
"With regard to paracetamol and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), they will be kept in a licensed category and their demand position would be continuously monitored. However, the stock position could allow our companies to meet the export commitments that they had contracted," the statement by MEA's official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
"In view of the humanitarian aspects of the pandemic, it has been decided that India would license paracetamol and HCQ in appropriate quantities to all our neighbouring countries who are dependent on our capabilities. We will also be supplying these essential drugs to some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic," it said.
The US President Donald Trump had called upon India, during a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week, to lift the curbs on the export of Hydroxychloroquine.
Also read: Hydroxychloroquine -- Malaria drug and coronavirus treatment. All you need to know
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