India is pharmacy of world, will remain so: Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey

During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, India has provided medicines such as hydroxychloroquine to various countries as India wants to help the world, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said on Friday.

"India is the pharmacy of the world and will remain the pharmacy of the world," Choubey said while addressing the inaugural session of webinar on 'The Future of Healthcare, Pharma and Allied Industries' organised by CorpGini.

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Encouraging innovations in Pharma, he said "we should focus on brain gain and avoid brain drain", so that India can strengthen its dominance in pharmaceutical and wellness sectors and serve humanity.

Highlighting efforts made by the government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Choubey said that currently, India has 641 test labs across the country. Testing machines and personal protective equipment (PPE) are being made in India. PM Narendra Modi had set a target for conducting one lakh tests a day before May 31, that figure has already been surpassed as 1,22,000 tests are being conducted per day.

p>In similar vein, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) Secretary-General Sudarshan Jain said, "COVID-19 is a great opportunity; any adversity has to be transformed into an opportunity. There is outstanding work that is being done in India".

India controls 60 per cent of the vaccine market globally. The time-frame for vaccine development in India has been reduced from 10 years to 1 year, he added.

India is a great destination for doing bio-equivalence clinical trials. There is cost-effectiveness, precision and knowledge in India. I think the first COVID-19 vaccine will come from India. By September or December, we will have a solution to this pandemic," Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India Chairman Dinesh Dua said.