CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry has stopped using the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients, said Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said the decision was taken after data collected by the ministry showed no significant effects of the drug in helping patients fight the coronavirus.
"We had been using this treatment (hydroxychloroquine) off-label, as there was no data to indicate whether it was suitable to fight Covid-19 or to treat Covid-19 patients.
"But we used it as an anti-inflammation (drug). However, after we collected data from a total of 500 cases, the statistics did not show it had been effective (against Covid-19)," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.
Noor Hisham was answering a question on the latest findings revealed by the head of Sungai Buloh Hospital's medical department Dr K Suresh, which showed hydroxychloroquine cannot stop the progress of Covid-19 in patients.
Suresh was quoted by an English daily saying the preliminary conclusion was based on data from 586 Covid-19 patients in Hospital Sungai Buloh and Hospital Permai Johor Bahru.
Noor Hisham had on several occasions defended the use of hydroxychloroquine as an off-label treatment for patients infected by the coronavirus.
He said that hydroxychloroquine had been able to stop the disease from worsening in patients who were either asymptomatic or had mild Covid-19 symptoms.
However, Noor Hisham said they have decided otherwise as data is now available to show that the drug is not effective in Covid-19 treatment.
"We were informed that there was a 30 percent chance of complications from using the medicine. So, if we want to use it, we have to monitor its complications to the heart, eyes, and gastrointestinal tract.
"So now as we already have the data, we can confirm that the medicine is not effective, so we have stopped its use," he said.
According to him, the same practice would be adopted in the tests of other medicines that are currently being used off-label to treat Covid-19 patients.
He said anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir are being used off-label as part of a joint-research with the World Health Organisation to gauge their effectiveness.
The Health Ministry would be relying on data from studies to determine whether the medicines would be suitable for continued use in Covid-19 cases, he added.
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said they are also continuing the study on experimental drug remdesivir to treat patients.
However, the Ministry was facing a shortage of patients to test the new drug.
"At the moment, we have nine patients who are using remdesivir. But, as we can see, our number of cases has decreased. So, to conduct scientific study, we are short of patients," he said.
On another matter, Noor Hisham said the Ministry has no plan to lift its ban on visitors at all government hospitals.
He said only in some cases would visitors be allowed in, such as for terminally ill patients. - Mkini
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