Bihar to give 2.5 million HCQ tablets

NEW DELHI: The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has ordered distribution of more than 2.5 million hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets among nearly 240,000 frontline workers in the state while Uttar Pradesh has decided to run mobile medical units in villages to test migrant workers for Covid-19.

Both these states have seen a sharp increase in cases following the return of migrants. The ICMR has been pushing for the use of HCQ to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection among frontline workers and, last month, it expanded the scope of the antimalarial medicine’s use.

In this backdrop, the Bihar government issued an order on May 29 saying an additional 108,000 paramilitary and police personnel posted in various districts will be given more than 600,000 HCQ tablets.

This will be in addition to 1.8 m HCQ tablets being distributed in Bihar to nearly 130,000 paramedical staff and accredited social health activists, as per the letter accessed by ET. The highest distribution of HCQ will be in East Champaran, Gaya, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Madhubani, Vaishali, Darbhanga and West Champaran districts.