HEALTH NEWS
Avoid taking hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) — approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat or prevent malaria as well as some auto-immune conditions — does not help in recovery of patients hospitalised due to Covid-19, but may cause harm, researchers have warned.
In 2021, in the US alone, there have been more than 560,000 prescriptions of hydroxychloroquine for the prevention, post-exposure, and treatment of Covid-19. In 2020, the 890,000 prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine were nine-fold greater than the previous years.
The risks of hydroxychloroquine for patients with Covid-19 are significantly higher because fatal cardiovascular complications due to these drugs are so much higher in older patients and those with existing heart disease or its risk factors, both of whom are more predominant in men
Premature and avoidable deaths will continue to occur if people take hydroxychloroquine and avoid the public health strategies of proven benefit, which include vaccinations and masking.