Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the government supplied hydroxychloroquine to Israel. The Congress leader while hitting out at PM Modi asked what happened to ‘India First’.
Taking to Twitter, Tharoor wrote, "Reports of Shortage in India as Govt exports scarce drug to fight #COVID19Pandemic: https://ibtimes.co.in/hydroxychloroquine-shortage-india-modi-govt-allows-supply-other-nations-rajasthan-forced-816990 Does anyone remember the man who said “India First”?"
According to a report by International Business Times, after the Narendra Modi government allowed the export of hydroxychloroquine, India faced a shortage of the medication. This forced the Rajasthan government to return its entire stock of 300 mg tablets to the firm it was acquired from.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for rushing a five-tonne cargo of medicines, including anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, seen as a possible cure for COVID-19.
"Thank you, my dear friend @narendramodi, Prime Minister of India, for sending Chloroquine to Israel. All the citizens of Israel thank you!", Netanyahu said in a tweet Thursday evening.
The Israeli's PM's thanked India two days after a plane carrying materials used to make medicines for treating coronavirus patients arrived in Israel from India on Tuesday. The five-tonne shipment included ingredients for drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, being seen worldwide as the best possible cure as of now for treating COVID-19 patients.
