Export of Pharma Chemicals Cut – Govt Cuts Exports of 26 Pharma Chemicals
On Tuesday, the Indian government announced that the exports of 26 pharma chemicals like Paracetamol and Tinidazole will be cut as the scare of coronavirus spreads. It amended the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) export policy and formulations made from these APIs.
The restrictions will come into immediate effect and until further orders said a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The following APIs and formulations made from these APIs are covered in the notification: Tinidazole, Ornidazole, Clindamycin Salts, Neomycin, Erythromycin Salts, Chloramphenicol, Progesterone, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B1, Acyclovir, Metronidazole, and Paracetamol.
The domestic drug manufacturing has been threatened by the shortage of pharma raw material from China.
Our reliance on China for essential drugs must be ended demanded the Congress party, asking the government to work towards it. “Over the years our imports from China have become very heavy though we produce almost a quarter of the world’s generic medicines”, said Anand Sharma, the Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
He added, “India’s pharma industry is one of the biggest in the world and the percentage
of pharma raw material, especially for injectables imported from China, is almost 80 percent. We were producing our own antibiotics earlier, it is now time that we start meeting our requirements by producing more.”To accelerate the work towards decoding the DNA sequence of this virus and to come up with a vaccine, research institutions like the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Institute of Virology, must put in every bit of their effort, said Anand Sharma.
“For the entire world, coronavirus scare is a serious challenge. For both human life and for the world economy, the fallout is severe,” said the Congress leader.
He added saying, “The country being prepared is important, as we are a very big country, at all airports and crowded places a regular regime for screening is there, each state is prepared.”
The concerned health officials and the government should reassure the country that India is prepared for coronavirus’s response and not just put in place a protocol so that there is not much anxiety, he further added.
