India has approved the first list of 13 countries that are set to receive covid-fighting drugs from India, including the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine or HCQ.

The first list includes 13 countries -- US, Spain, Germany, Bahrain, Brazil, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Seychelles, Mauritius and the Dominican Republic.

Speaking to media on Friday, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Dammu Ravi, said, "A lot of requests for HCQ were already there and taking into view domestic stock and requirement while keeping a sufficient buffer, a decision was taken by the Group of Ministers to release some of the surplus medicine for export purposes."

Dammu Ravi informed that there will be two more such consignments of the coveted drug that will be exported to foreign nations.

Amid apprehensions whether India had sufficient hydroxychloroquine stock itself, the health ministry informed that in the coming week, India will require 1 crore tablets for domestic use and current stock stands at over 3.28 crore.

The United States had asked for 48 lakh tablets of hydroxychloroquine. India, meanwhile, has sanctioned 35.82 lakhs tablets along with India 9 metric tonne (MT) API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), as per their request.

Besides the USA, only Brazil, Canada and Germany are expected to get 50 lakh tablets each of hydroxychloroquine in the second consignment.

In the first consignment, Brazil will receive 0.53 MT of API and Germany, 1.5 MT of API.

Bangladesh is set to receive 20 lakh tablets of hydroxychloroquine, Nepal 10 lakh, Bhutan 2 lakh, Sri Lanka 10 lakh (not in the first consignment), Afghanistan 5 lakh, and Maldives 2 lakh.

The MEA said that the countries were shortlisted on first come first serve basis.

India will also be exporting a total of 430 million tablets of paracetamol.

The countries slated to receive paracetamol from India are the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and a few African nations.

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