India gains international goodwill with low-cost medical diplomacy
Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 17
India has mustered much international goodwill at a very low cost by opening up the exports of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and paracetamol tablets to at least 100 countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi relented after phone conversations with Donald Trump (US), Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel) and Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil) whose countries had been reeling from Covid epidemic.
The HCQ, which gained popularity after Trump said it was a wonder cure, is out of patent and hence cheap to manufacture.
In comparison, China is not just fencing off attacks about having suppressed information about Covid, its medical diplomacy is backfiring because of complaints regarding defected supplies.
Sources say the international goodwill may have cost India less than Rs 300 crore so far.
Some heads of government who have thanked India are from the UK, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Spain, Nepal, Mauritius and Seychelles.
Interestingly, the HCQ is not a wonder cure for Covid and its serious side-effects on the heart have been emphasised by several government departments, including the Chandigarh administration.
Rs 300 crore spent on drug export
- India has opened up exports of hydroxychloroquine, paracetamol to around 100 countries
- This may have cost India less than Rs300 crore
- UK, Sri Lanka, Spain, Nepal, Mauritius thanked India
