The Department of Health in Johannesburg, South Africa, stated that they do not recommend the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment.
This came after the video of Dr. Stella Immanuel recommending the use of the drug last week went viral.
The video was taken outside the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington in the United States of America (USA), there were public disagreements after all social networks removed the video on their platforms last week.
USA President Donald Trump is a fan of the drug even after Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against the use of the drug for Covid-19.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated that scientific data shows that the drug is not effective in treating coronavirus.
Dr. Stella Immanuel’s video being removed from social media networks received a negative response from many who think that the drug should be used for the coronavirus treatment, despite several medical journals and the World Health Organization (WHO) stating that there is no evidence that the drug will have positive effects.
In early July WHO announced that they were discontinuing the use of the drug for Covid-19.
Popo Maja, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, stated that South Africa has never recommended the drug as a Covid-19 treatment, but it has been used as a clinical trial under conditions where patients were carefully monitored for any other effects.
The department did however recommend the use of dexamethasone which they said reduced the rates of deaths amongst patients who were severely infected with Covid-19.
The department stated that they did not monitor the prescriptions given by the private sector and that meant they could not comment on how they are coping.
When Netcare was asked if they prescribe the drug to their patients they stated that the dispensing of medication for patients remained a decision for individual medical practitioners and that the Netcare Group did not recommend to doctors as to what drugs they should or should not use.
The Life Healthcare Group stated that they did not dispense the drug as a form of Covid-19 treatment.
