Firdous Hassan
Srinagar: Doctors have started giving Hydroxychloroquine to COVID-19 patients in Kashmir after Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved the anti-malaria drug for treating the deadly infection.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently approved Hydroxychloroquine along with Azithromycin for COVID-19 treatment.
Soon after, Jammu and Kashmir administration procured more than 100,000 Hydroxychloroquine tablets.
“We have procured 110000 tablets of Hydroxychloroquine which have been now distributed to the hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir,” General Manager Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Limited Mohammad Iqbal said.
More than 30,000 tablets have been handed over to Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, 15,000 to Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, 5,000 each to SKIMS Bemina, GMC Baramulla, and GMC Anantnag.
Medical Superintendent Dr. Naveed Shah told The Kashmir Monitor that they are giving hydroxychloroquine to those COVID-19 patients who have no history of cardiac complications.
“Patients with mild or moderate infection are being given this drug. Azithromycin is also being given to the patients. Further, Ivermectin and second-line anti-HIV drugs are also given depending on the severity of the patient, “he said.
Dr. Naveed said that majority of the patients in Chest Diseases hospital have shown signs of recovery after being administered these drugs.
Of the 30 COVID-19 positive patients at SKIMS, around 22 are being given Hydroxychloroquine.
Dr. Aijaz Nabi Koul, who is currently treating COVID-19 patients, said all the patients in the Institute have shown signs of recovery.
“All my patients are doing good. I had three sick patients who have made a very good improvement,” he said.
Dr. Koul said doctors conduct ECG of the COVID-19 positive patients before giving them Hydroxychloroquine. “We have divided patients into two groups. Only selected patients are given Hydroxychloroquine and some other drugs. We are currently analyzing how effective this drug can be in the recovery of COVID-19 patients, “he said.
Dr. Koul said the earlier ICMR approved drugs including Lopinavir and Ritonavi have also proved effective in treating COVID 19 patients.
“The first COVID-19 case was a 67- year old lady. She was very sick and had almost collapsed. She was given these two drugs for 72 hours and she showed immediate signs of recovery. So far three patients have been discharged from SKIMS who were given these drugs, “he said.
COVID19 and Ivermectin
High population density plus unlocking lead to community transmission, resulting in fast increase in the number of COVID19 cases in India. Good news is that, large number of infected persons would be cured of the disease without much symptoms; these asymptomatic persons would not subject themselves to any form of testing or treatment; they would roam freely in society and would infect more persons – and this would usher in HERD IMMUNITY in India.
Patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms do not require costly indoor treatment; and such patients should be treated by doctors at the periphery; and the doctors should treat these patients based on clinical assessments of the patients – elaborate testing, to exclude COVID19, for each and every persons suffering from fever with mild-to-moderate Flu-like symptoms is a very costly proposition. There would be severe forms of chaos if we try to cater indoor treatment to all symptomatic patients presenting with mild-to-moderate Flu-like features. However, severely ill patients, aged patients with comorbidities should be admitted in well-equipped institutions.
ICMR should allow doctors, not attached to any state-run hospital or private institution, to treat patients with mild-to-moderate Flu-like symptoms with a cocktail of drugs – Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, Azithromycin and Ivermectin. Doctors attached to state-run or private institutions are, I think, already instructed by ICMR about management of such patients at indoor and outdoor.
COVID19 is a Global emergency; we do not have much time for elaborate clinical trials (multi-centric, double-blind, placebo-controlled, above all, reports should be acceptable to peer-group-reviewed international Journals) to prove or disprove efficacy of Ivermectin in treating COVID19. Doctors of many nations have published reports proving excellent efficacy of Ivermectin; no doubt, these studies have been conducted with a small number of patients; but still, we cannot discard the inferences of these reports out right, because these findings are collected by senior physicians with long experiences in clinical medicine.
Arun Kumar Laha 09 06 2020
IVERMECTIN
Times Of India published two reports on 21st and 22th May praising Rendesivir and Favipiravir, two antivirals. Mainstream media worldwide are promoting these drugs of big pharma companies; however, most, if not all, antivirals are of questionable efficacy. No one is promoting IVERMECTIN, a cheap oral drug, prescribing which against COVID19 doctors from many nations, including Bangladesh, got EXCELLENT results. No one is interested in promoting this off patented molecule. Scientists could not fabricate vaccines against all and every pathogenic Virus; most probably, COVID19 is one of such type. Monoclonal antibody against viral proteins, however, is a good treatment plan.
NO MASK, NO SOCIAL DISTANCING, NO LOCKDOWN, WILL BE ABLE TO SAVE HUMANITY FROM COVID19. IVERMECTIN, HCQ AND HERD IMMUNITY DUE TO SUBCLINICAL INFECTION IN COMMUNITY AT LARGE WOULD SAVE US.
Fight against COVID19
To fight against COVID19 India has to chalk out her own plan; we should not ape other nations. There would be serious socio-economic disaster in India if we continue total or partial lockdown. Most of the COVID19 infected patients in India are asymptomatic; and this might be due to the presence of Curcumin in our daily food. So, it is very difficult to determine patient- load in India; we can not test for COVID19 in all persons under the Sun.
Asymptomatic persons would refuse testing and any form of treatment – they would roam freely in society; and would infect the population at large; and this will in near future usher in HERD IMMUNITY in India. Most of the symptomatic patients present with mild to moderate illness; we should treat them as OPD patients. We have to treat these patients with mild-to-moderate Flu-like symptoms as quickly as possible; so that they do not become severely ill to overwhelm the scarce indoor facilities in our country. Here is a safe outdoor treatment plan that will show quick and effective response in symptomatic patients (for adults): – Vitamin D & C and Zinc daily in usual recommended doses + Virostatic drug Ivermectin 12mg daily for 3 to 5 days + Senolytic antibiotic Azithromycin 250mg to 500mg daily for 5 days to 10 days. This treatment plan ushers in prompt response. Serious indoor patients would get these medicines + necessary supportive measures + Hydroxychloroquine (HCQS). – Arun Kumar Laha 29, Abinash Banerjee Lane. Howrah 711104. ([email protected])
Disclaimer: –
This is not a prescription for the general public to self- medicate themselves. It is for the medical fraternity to think about my humble suggestion.
To solve the problems of COVID 19, lockdown is not the only way out; we have to rely on development of HERD IMMUNITY by exposing people to low grade infection with COVID19 and we have to treat the symptomatic patients as fast as possible, to cut short the number of serious patients requiring indoor treatment.
Many health- care personnel and other fighters against COVID19 are losing their lives to save humanity at large; ICMR should think about prescribing IVERMECTIN (12mg in empty stomach once in a week instead of Hydroxychloroquine) to these persons. Ivermectin is safer than Hydroxychloroquine.