The demand of anti- malarial drug hydroxychloroquine has woken up due to the coronavirus pandemic rising substantially. Efforts are being made to speed up the production of hydroxychloroquine in Himachal Pradesh.
The drug Hydroxychloroquine which was originally used to treat malarial patients, has
proved to work on destroying covid19 virus. The drug controller of the State,Navneet Marwaha has said that there is ample capacity in the state to produce this drug.
Marwaha said on Friday that there are 50 manufacturers of drugs that are holding the
production license to produce the Hydroxychloroquine tablets. They are small or medium
scale producers but have state- of art-facility in Himachal Pradesh and can cater to the
needs of the hour.
Numerous countries have requested to supply the drug to them as the coronavirus which
originated in the city of Wuhan, China last year , has surmounted 1.5 million cases till now.
India along with the USA,Spain,Germany,Brazil,Nepal,Maldives,Bangladesh,Afghanistan. Sri Lanka and Bhutan have cleared the list of 13 countries that have the supply for
Hydroxychloroquine.
Marwaha said that currently about 10-12 manufacturers are producing the drug but the other manufacturers who possess the license to make the drug can start the production depending upon the demand and needs.
The Chief Minister Jay Ram Thakur had held a video conference with the pharmaceutical
firms to know about the problems they are facing and about how the production capacity of these units can be increased.
The association of the drug manufacturing in Himachal Pradesh is now seeking help from
the government and thus demanding relaxation in certain norms to pharmaceutical units that are fulfilling certain norms required to fulfill the production of the Hydroxychloroquine drug.
The president of the drug Manufacturing association stated via a telephonic conversation
there are still many pharmaceutical units that are still struggling to start the production of the drug to supply it according to demands and needs.
He also stated that the Association held talks in this association with the chief minister .
“ we are expecting that the state government will give a serious thought to our suggestions to help resolve our problems .while laying emphasis at the shortage of labour, managing staff.
