PANJIM: As Goa proposed a “prophylaxis” treatment with Ivermectin to all above the age of 18 years, World Health Organisation (WHO)’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Tuesday tweeted that the UN agency recommends against the use of the drug to treat COVID-19 patients except within clinical trials.
In her tweet, Swaminathan included a release by the company that manufactures the drug, Merck, saying it has not found any evidence to support Ivermectin’s use in treating COVID-19.
Notwithstanding this, the Goa government has decided to go ahead with Ivermectin 12mg treatment protocol.
“Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication,” Swaminathan said in her tweet, adding, “WHO recommends against the use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 except within clinical trials.”
Her tweet came a day after the Goa government announced that it would give Ivermectin to all people over 18 – irrespective of whether they have been infected by COVID-19 or have taken vaccine, to “bring down mortality”.
Responding to the WHO statement, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the government is going ahead with use of Ivermectin.
“It is tried and tested by our experts. The same is also used in the Indian Council of Medical Reserach (ICMR) protocol for treatment of patients. We are going ahead with expert advice. I have been taking the same,” Rane said.
He also reiterated that the expert panels from the UK, Italy, Spain and Japan, found a large, statistically significant reduction in mortality, time to recovery and viral clearance in COVID-19 patients treated with Ivermectin.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) Goa chapter is likely to write to Directorate of Health Services to change the proposed Ivermectin dose protocol as the doses are to be administered on the first, third and seventh day and then continue it once a week till the pandemic is brought under control.
“Giving the tablets only for five days will not be impactful,” IMA Goa President Dr Vinayak Buvaji said.
He advised against giving the same quantity of the dose to all the people. “People weighing below 60 kg should be given the 12 mg dose of Ivermectin while those above 60 kg should be given the 18 mg dose,” the doctor explained.
