Zubair Qureshi
Doctors in Islamabad have not yet started using dexamethasone, (except in critical cases) for treatment of novel coronavirus patients, the country’s top health official said on Wednesday as its ally fatalities hit another record high.
Researchers in the UK had announced a day earlier that dexamethasone — a cheap and widely available drug — cuts the risk of death in severely ill coronavirus patients, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has hailed it as a “lifesaving breakthrough.”
Zafar Mirza, Pakistan’s Special Assistnt to Prime Minister on Health said the country had ample supply of the drug and may include it in the standard treatment for Covid-19 patients on ventilators or in need of oxygen.
In a series of tweets, he said the WHO had responded positively to the new research and an expert committee in Pakistan will now consider making it part of the treatment plan.
“It is an old & cheap anti-inflammatory medicine (steroid) & we have multiple producers in Pakistan,” he said. Mirza clarified that the medicine was only to be used for critically ill Covid-19 patients who are on ventilators or need oxygen.
Dexamethasone is a steroid that has been used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in a range of conditions, including inflammatory disorders and certain cancers.
It has been listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines since 1977 in multiple formulations, and is currently off-patent and affordably available in most countries, according to the global heath body.
Meanwhile, the district administration of Islamabad on Thursday sealed three banks in the Sector I-8 Markaz over violation of lockdown orders. Three banks, namely Bank Alfalah, Bank Al-Habib and Standard Chartered bank were sealed by the Assistant Commissioner of Industrial Area during a visit of the sectors that have been sealed for a large number of coronavirus cases being reported from there.
There will be no business at these banks like transaction, bill payment, cheque/cash deposits etc and only their ATMs would remain functional for facilitation of residents.
Islamabad on Thursday, reported 9,637 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 94 deaths. On Wednesday the figures were 9,242 cases and 90 deaths. This means in the last 24 hours 395 new cases of Covid-19 and four deaths were reported.
