Indian authorities need to make sure that all people entering the country are people screened in the bid to counter the spread of coronavirus, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the chairman and managing director of Biocon told CNBC-TV18 in an interview at the sidelines of the 17th Bio-Asia Convention.

“We need to be in a state of preparedness and that state of preparedness starts with screening people, with making sure that all visitors entering India are properly screened and that is happening at our airports. I am sure it is happening at all entry points in India, which is the first step that we need to take,” she said.

“We need diagnostics first and foremost. You need to diagnose the virus as soon as possible so that you don’t inconvenience people if they don’t have the virus."

Reports suggest that the government is mulling an export ban on 12 essential drugs in a bid to counter the coronavirus outbreak. However, Shaw said that there is a need to stockpile medicine ingredients to counter outbreaks rather than put blanket ban on drug exports at times of emergency.

“We need to understand what is it that we need to stockpile rather than just having a blanket ban on active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) exports or drug exports. So that is going to be the essence of the discussion saying let us not panic and stop all drug exports because I don’t think that should be the approach.

"You need to be very informed, you need to make sure that you are doing the right thing and you need to make sure that the stockpiling is of the right medication.”

First Published:Feb 19, 2020 8:23 AM IST