WION Edit: Why a strategic reserve for medicine is need of the hour

America spends more than $600 billion on defence. It has one of the biggest weapon arsenals, but amid the coronavirus outbreak - the US is facing a critical shortage of masks and drugs.

Countries stockpile oil, missilesas a strategic reserve and not medicines. However, this outbreak has rendered those strategic reserves useless. It's time to redefine strategic reserves because missiles and oil won't help, medicines will.

A report from 2018 says the US spends $81 billion a year to protect oil supplies around the world. Last year, the US government allocated more than 600 billion dollars for defence.

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Earlier this year, the Trump administration shared this year's budget and the plan was to cut expenditure on health.

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Trump wanted to cut $844 billion in 10 years for health, but that plan went for a toss because last month, Trump had to sign a $2 trillion coronavirus bill.

Nobody was prepared for this pandemic, and hence, America is being forced to spend more on health care, to be fair, every other country is.

According to a report, 47 per cent of drug supply in the US comes from India. America has something that is called the strategic national stockpile - a stock of medicines and medical supplies maintained for a crisis like this.

The stockpile has been maintained for 22 years now. It has around $7 billion of supplies, but some of it has not been completely restocked.

According to a report carried by the Washington Post, the US hasn't restocked N95 masks in the national stockpile. Millions of maks were used up in 2009 during the H1N1 outbreak.

Had countries like the United States prioritised public health over potential wars, things may not have been so bad.

By no stretch of the imagination can India boast of a solid public healthcare system. There are too many problems, but the medicine supply is not one of them.

India manufactures 70 per cent of the world’s supply of hydroxychloroquine, making it the biggest global supplier of this anti-malaria drug.

The present situation solidifies India's position as the world's pharmacy. India ranks 3rd globally in pharmaceutical production, supplying drugs to more than 200 countries.

The coronavirus crisis has disrupted China-based global supply chains. The world has no other option, but to turn to India for help.

Who would've thought an anti-malarial drug, which has not even got scientific backing as a cure, would make superpowers scramble.

This crisis has disrupteda lot of things, including our concepts of what is a strategic reserve - in times of a pandemic, it's medicine.

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