As global demand for anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) grows, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have procured 1.10 lakh tablets to use them treat coronavirus patients.
The drug has been touted as a potential “game-changer” for coronavirus by US President Donald Trump, although several international health experts say that its effectiveness on treating the contagion is still unproven.
Health officials said the tablets have been distributed among various hospitals treating the coronavirus patients in Jammu and Kashmir.
“In first installment, we procured 1.10 lakh hydroxychloroquine tablets for Jammu and Kashmir on Monday,” said Mohammad Iqbal, General Manager J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Limited, which is entrusted to procure and supply drugs to government-run hospitals.
With coronavirus positive cases in the union territory climbing to 114, majority of them in Kashmir, Iqbal said 60,000 hydroxychloroquine tablets have been allotted to hospitals in Kashmir and 50,000 to Jammu.
In Kashmir, 30,000 tablets have been allowed 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.
“These drugs have been procured for treatment of CoVID positive cases and high-risk health workers,” he said.
However, Iqbal said HCQ drug was yet to be used for coronavirus treatment.
HCQ drug is used to prevent or treat malaria infections caused by mosquito bites. It is also used, usually with other medications, to treat certain auto-immune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis) when other medications have not worked or cannot be used. It belongs to a class of medications known as disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
Many virologists and infectious disease experts have cautioned people about the use of hydroxychloroquine, as there have been no complete clinical trials to see how the drug behaves in patients.
“Those rushing to buy and stock (err hoard) hydroxychloroquine may note that there is only a weak evidence for its use and its approval comes in wake of absence of clearly effective and safe alternatives. Patients with other diseases (RA etc) need it and must find it in stores,” tweeted Dr Parvaiz Koul, Head of Chest Medicine department at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura.
India has allowed the export of a drug considered vital for the treatment of coronavirus.
The government on Tuesday said it would allow the US to import from India previously contracted shipments of the drug.
HCQ came into limelight after Trump said he wanted to eliminate all barriers to make it available for the treatment of Covid patients in the US where the death toll has crossed 10,000.
In India, the main Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) makers for HCQ are Ipca Laboratories and Zydus Cadila, and the US is now willing to overlook its Federal Drug Authority’s three-year ban on one of the companies.
– Samaan Lateef | TNS