Jaipur runs low on the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, that also speeds up recovery from COVID-19.
By Nikita Gupta
Date: April 16, 2020
Various medical shops in the city complain of a shortage of hydroxychloroquine, anti-malaria drug, that apart from speeding up the coronavirus recovery process, also helps patients of other medical issues such as arthritis, malaria, lupus and viral fever.
Abhay Jain who owns a Pharmacy in Barkat Nagar says, “We are running really low on the supplies of the drug. And, with the increasing number of cases, we are expecting the government to send us supplies in the next few days.”
In the wake of COVID-19, patients suffering from other diseases are finding it difficult to find the drug. All the stocks were acquired by the government leaving pharmacies with nothing.
Arthritis patient, Madan Lal Gupta told his predicament, “The other day when I went to buy my monthly supplies of Plaquenil, my arthritis medicine, I was informed by the owner of the shop that they have run out of the same.”
Government has opened exports of the drug to the US and various European countries when there’s a shortage of the drug in India not just for COVID-19 patients but also for patients suffering from other diseases. Government denies any such claim though.
“There is no shortage of hydroxychloroquine. We acquired the drugs from wholesalers and retailers combined, but 25% of that has been returned back. We are hoping people suffering from other diseases will not face any problem,” said Rohit Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health Department, Rajasthan.
Other illnesses might not be an immediate concern for the world as a whole but for the people suffering from them and not having their medicines as per requirement — is indeed something that cannot be neglected.
