UNGA prez lauds 'world pharmacy' India for helping distant nations during the COVID-19 pandemic

New Delhi, August 30: UNGA president Abdulla Shahid termed India as the world's pharmacy and said that it has reached not only the neighbouring countries but also as far as Latin America during COVID-19.

 

He added that by helping other countries New Delhi has shown its human face of compassion. Shahid, the Foreign Minister of the Maldives, who is on a visit to India, made this remark while talking with the private media house.

 

Praising India, he said, "India is the world's pharmacist and has reached out to several countries. I have found that India has reached not only the neighbouring countries but also as far as Latin America and the Pacific. India has shown its human face of compassion."

 

 

India's pharmaceutical industry has played a "crucial role" during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the government, India has supplied 23.9 crore doses of coronavirus vaccine to 101 countries and UN entities in the form of grants, commercial export, or through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) as of July 15, 2022.

 

The country had to briefly stop exports in April 2021 when domestic cases surged and it needed more vaccines at home. It resumed exports in October of that year.

 

 

Significantly, over 80% of the antiretroviral drugs used globally to combat AIDS are also supplied by Indian pharmaceutical firms, according to the government.

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