WION Edit: How Coronavirus outbreak could trigger a medicine crunch in India

As China struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak, there is good news for India. Three Indian citizens who had contracted the Wuhan virus have now been cured.

India now needs to focus on the challenges of a different kind. We need to look at how this outbreak in China could trigger a medicine crunch in India.

India is the world's biggest exporter of generic drugs. As of April 2019, India had a 75 per cent market share. India supplies nearly a third of the medicines sold in the United States.

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America is the world's largest and most lucrative healthcare market and they depend on India for supplies. That's how critical India's supply of drugs to the world is. But, Indian drug manufacturers depend on China for their supplies.

They import 70 per cent of their raw material in pharmaceuticals from China. The coronavirus outbreak led to a shutdown of several cities.

WATCH: What India needs to worry about

Consequently, India's supply was cut off. On Monday, a report claimed that the prices of paracetamol have jumped by 40 per cent in India.

Paracetamol is the most commonly used analgesic - a medicine used to treat fever and pain. Another price shock is the cost of Azithromycin - an antibiotic used to treat several bacterial infections - it has shot up by 70 per cent.

China manufactures key ingredients for several medicines - this includes antibiotics, diabetes drugs, painkillers and medicines for HIV.

The global supply chain depends on China's delivery. If normalcy doesn't return soon, the supply of medicines will be hit. There will be supply shortages in the market.

A few weeks ago, some companies did issue assurances that they have built up some additional stock, but two months have passed since this outbreak was first reported, at least 150 million people in china can't move freely yet. And hence, factories won't resume exports in a hurry.

And Indian companies expect a major disruption in April. If Indian companies are forced to import from elsewhere, this could escalate their cost by 20 to 30 per cent.

The industry is already demanding cuts to import duties, it's time for the Indian authorities to keep a tab on medicine manufacturers in India.

The government must ensure that there is an adequate supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients and more drugs should be added to the stockpile of essential medicines.

The government must also ensure the basic drugs do not become too expensive. This is an opportunity for the Indian government to build-up its own sources of pharmaceutical ingredients.

India is already a major exporter of drugs - it aspires to be a leading global exporter in healthcare and it's time to turn this crisis into an opportunity.

(Disclaimer: WION Edit is the channel's take on the big events of the world)