A day after India said it will allow limited exports of the anti-malaria hydroxychloroquine, officials across several states insisted there is no shortage of the drug. Hydroxychloroquine has emerged as the most sought-after medicine after preliminary trials in China suggested it boosted recovery and lowered the severity of the coronavirus disease.
The limited exports were allowed after US president Donald Trump requested the supply of the drug from India in a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. Trump also warned of retaliation if India did not take up his request.
On Wednesday, HT did a reality check across states on the availability of the medicine amid complaints by patients about its shortage. Here, is a summary of reports from various states:
Kerala
The Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd, the state’s medicine and medical equipment procurement agency, managing director Dr S R Dileep Kumar said they have enough stock of the hydroxychloroquine tablets. “We have got 1.2 million tablets last week and we placed the order for another five lakh that we will get next week. There is no shortage,” he said.
But many retail medical outlets said their stocks have exhausted after people started buying in panic. Worried, the health department has asked medical shops to supply the tablets only to the people who come with prescriptions.
Rajasthan
Jaipur-resident, Ritesh Sharma, 44, who has been having hydroxycholoquinine for 10 years, said local chemists have run out of its stocks for 15 days. Sharma has rheumatoid arthritis. Hydroxychloroquine is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and helps to slow down its progression.
The shortage prompted the Rajasthan government to issue an order to acquire all stocks of hydroxycholoquine from stockists, wholesalers and retailers. It later asked officials to return 25% of the stocks to pharmacists. “The state government got 450,000 tablets from the government of India over the last two days. That was also the reason why we returned some of the tablets to be sold to people who have prescriptions,” he (WHO) said.
“Total allocation of 4.5 million tablets has been made to the state [Rajasthan] and this will be delivered in phases until the end of April,” said Union health ministry officer on special duty Sudhansh Pant.
In the last five days, 1.15 million tablets of hydroxycholoquinine have been delivered to Rajasthan, an official said.
Madhya Pradesh
Vikas Sadana, a chemist in Bhopal, said hydroxycholoquinine was unavailable as wholesale dealers have stopped supplying it citing a government restriction. “We are unable to provide it to patients,” he said.
Madhya Pradesh’s additional director (health) Sapna Lovanshi said, “We have enough stock of hydroxycholoquinine in government hospitals across the state. There is no complaint from any hospital about shortage of the medicine.”
Odisha
Chemists in Odisha said the medicine was in short supply after the government asked dealers not to supply it to retail pharmacies. Dibakar Sahu, a chemist in Bhubaneswar, said they are no longer giving it to people without prescriptions.
Drugs controller Mamina Patnaik said so far the state government has diverted around 8 lakh of hydroxychloroquine tablets to state-owned Odisha State Medical Corporation so that it can be used for Covid-19 patients. “Only a small portion of the total stock is available with chemists,” Patnaik said.
Goa
Doctors in Goa said the medicine is unavailable even for private practitioners. “We have the stock but we are reserving it for those who really need it like doctors and have stopped selling it over the counter as the fresh stock has not arrived,” said Albert D’Sa, the president of the Chemists and Druggists Association of Goa.
Jharkhand
Chemists in Ranchi said hydroxycholoquinine was unavailable at shops. “The distributors started refusing its supply since March, citing government restrictions,” said Sandeep Rajgharia, a pharmacy owner.
Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences superintendent Vivek Kashyap said, “We have enough stock of the medicine to meet demand irrespective of requirement.”
Assam
Assam’s food and drugs department officials said there is adequate stock of the medicine as of now. “Chemists are allowed to sell the drug to patients based on prescriptions and sale without any doctor’s advice is not allowed. We have enough stock of hydroxycholoquinine in the state right now,” said Harendra Nath Sarma, inspector of drugs, directorate of health service, Assam.
Bihar
Dr Amulya Kumar Singh, an orthopedician in Patna, said though there is no shortage of the drug at the manufacturing level, there are transportation issues during the lockdown, leading to an artificial scarcity, especially with some wholesalers hoarding the drug.
Sanjaya Kumar Singh, managing director, Bihar Medical Services Infrastructure Company Limited, which procures medicines, said there is no shortage of the medicine and the state has enough buffer stock.
Other states
There were also reports of a shortage of the medicine at chemist shops from Uttarkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab.
