A 44-year old senior anaesthetist, Utpaljit Barman who was working at Pratiksha Hospital in Guwahati has reportedly died from a heart attack after he took anti-malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine, that is also said to be effective against the Wuhan Coronavirus, according to some authorities. Barman reportedly developed heart-related complications and was admitted at another private hospital where he passed away.
Nirmal Kumar Hazarika, Pratiksha hospital’s medical superintendent said, “Several doctors are using hydroxychloroquine as self-medication to prevent COVID-19. Barman too took it.”
He added that Barman did not have underlying health conditions and that doctors were not sure if his death could be linked to hydroxychloroquine. “We are not sure how many doses he had taken; probably it was two doses,” Hazarika said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research had approved the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for health workers and family members of coronavirus patients who seem to be at higher risk. The recommendations are mainly for those who are closely working with COVID-19 patients.
Few days ago, a French researcher who was tasked by the French govenrment to reasearch possible treatment for the COVID19, reported a successful trial of a new treatment for coronavirus, stating that it can stop the virus from becoming contagious in just six days.
Professor Didier Raoult from hospital l’Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire(IHU Mediterranee), uploaded a video explaining the trials happening earlier this week. He asserted, that the first patient he treated with the drug chloroquine saw a rapid and effective speeding in their healing process and a sharp decrease in the amount of time they remained contagious.
Chloroquine is a drug that is normally used to prevent and treat malaria and was administered via drug Plaquenil. Raoult said, “We included everyone who was in agreement to be treated, which was almost everyone. Two towns in the protocol, Nice and Avignon, gave us infected patients who had not yet received treatment.”
As per reports, the treatment was given to 24 patients, who were reportedly among the first to be infected in the south-east of France, and who had voluntarily admitted themselves to the hospital for the process. Patients were given 600 mg per day for 10 days.
Raoult added, ” We were able to ascertain that patients who had not received Plaquenil (drug-containing hydroxychloroquine) were still contagious after six days, but of those who received Plaquenil, only 25 percent were still contagious after the given period.”
Chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine have been used to treat coronavirus patients in China, in ongoing COVID-19 clinical trials.
