The Health Ministry Research Study and Development Agency (Balitbangkes) has provided a circular letter instructing medical professionals associated with the global clinical Uniformity Trial to suspend using hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 clients over safety concerns.
Twenty-two healthcare facilities in the country have joined the program, led by the World Health Company (WHO), to run clinical trials on numerous antiviral treatments to measure their effectiveness, consisting of remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir, lopinavir/ritonavir plus interferon and hydroxychloroquine.
According to a Balitbangkes letter addressed to the Indonesian Uniformity Trial research study team dated May 26, a copy of which was gotten by The Jakarta Post, “hydroxychloroquine randomization for new subjects is suspended”.
The firm composed that brand-new patients ought to not be treated with hydroxychloroquine but that patients who had been treated with hydroxychloroquine must continue the treatment under the monitoring, with unique attention to the medicine’s side effects on the cardiovascular system.
“[The circular] is only for those involved in the trial. For those who aren’t, it’s great to continue the existing treatment,” Balitbangkes chairman Abdul Kadir said on Friday.
Read also: WHO suspends trials of hydroxychloroquine as infection treatment
The Indonesian Society of Respirology (PDPI) called on doctors associated with the study to stop treating clients with hydroxychloroquine on Thursday. Doctors not included in the research study could continue to follow the COVID-19 management protocol put together by the PDPI with four other expert organizations until they issued a brand-new one.
The letter, signed by PDPI chairman Agus Dwi Susanto, also asked physicians to examine the condition of patients who had actually been taking hydroxychloroquine and report the results to the organization for consideration in a prospective revision to the procedure.
A copy of the protocol gotten by the Post recommends the use of a number of drugs for COVID-19 treatment, consisting of antimalarials chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine, antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu), which has been utilized to treat bird flu, and speculative antiviral favipiravir (Avigan), which has been used to treat Ebola patients.
The procedure recommended doctors utilize the antimalarials to treat clients with moderate to serious symptoms within different varieties of time.
Experts are still divided over what medication should be utilized to treat COVID-19 They have warned doctors to be really careful when recommending chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine and to only use it in serious cases as the side effects might consist of burst blood vessels and cardiac arrest.
University of Indonesia epidemiologist Pandu Riono recommended the federal government completely suspend chloroquine treatment.
” Due to the security issues, the federal government must suspend the use of chloroquine and audit all the COVID-19 deaths,” he said.
Read likewise: ‘No benefit’ in hydroxychloroquine infection treatment: 2 research studies
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo stated in March that physicians could use hydroxychloroquine only if they considered it required to treat COVID-19 patients. Countless chloroquine dosages had actually been produced in the country by state-owned pharmaceutical business PT Kimia Farma.
The medicine was simple to find in Papua, where malaria stays an issue. It was later discovered that the drug was being commonly offered on e-commerce platforms in the country.
The State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry said it would wait on the Health Ministry’s suggestion about the drug before choosing to restrict distribution.
” It is widely used in lots of medical facilities. If the Health Ministry states they need to stop, we will withdraw the medicine,” SOE Ministry representative Arya Sinulingga said.
If you wish to help in the fight against COVID-19, we have actually assembled a current list of community efforts created to help medical workers and low-income people in this post. Link: [UPDATED] Anti-COVID-19 efforts: Assisting Indonesia battle the break out.
