A government hospital in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, is investigating a complaint about worms allegedly found in a bottle of Azithromycin antibiotic medicine given to a child. The entire stock has been sealed and sent for testing following the complaint.
Among the commonly used analgesic formulations (painkillers) found NSQ are combinations of paracetamol with ibuprofen, diclofenac and mefenamic acid. Medications using these combinations are commonly used to treat fever, mild migraine, period and muscle pain.
The H3N2, which has been in wide circulation for the past two-three months, causes more hospitalisations than other subtypes, said ICMR scientists who keep a close watch on ailments caused by respiratory viruses through the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories network.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in view of a paper published last week in the Lancet medical journal, that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems than those that were not.
Trump has been aggressively promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
This is apart from the requirement to stock hydroxychloroquine (200 mg) and Azithromycin (500 mg) tablets for patients requiring ICU management, asymptomatic healthcare workers and asymptomatic household contacts of positive cases.
'When you are on these drugs, there is a possibility that you come to the hospital late, just by virtue of the fact that you believe that things are going to turn around, because you are on all these medicines.'
Fabiflu sales have grown by 62 per cent in July. It was launched in June. This drug is being used by doctors for mild-to-moderate Covid patients even if they are in home isolation.
There is no evidence that the drug can fight the virus, and regulators warn it may cause heart problems.
The API of Paracetamol, a fever and pain medication, has grown 25 per cent from Rs 450-480 per kg in December 2020 to Rs 580-600 per kg in April. When compared to the pre-Covid prices of December 2019, the surge is much steeper -- around 140 per cent, reports Sohini Das.
Indian government has extended price caps to 39 more medicines ranging from commonly used diabetes drugs to antibiotics.
A notice issued by the Indian Health Ministry at the weekend said that a government-appointed committee of experts had found that the banned combinations were "likely to involve risk to human beings, whereas safer alternatives to the said drug are available."
'Unfortunately, during this pandemic, everybody started saying that well, these are desperate times and desperate times need desperate solutions.' 'Purely out of fear, anxiety, panic, this knowledge that people started acquiring from WhatsApp University and social media, it pushed science completely to the backseat.'
The ministry has removed its earlier recommendation of the use of anti-HIV drug combinations Lopinavir and Ritonavir on a case-to-case basis depending upon the severity of the condition of a patient suffering from coronavirus infection.
Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that India has a stock of 3.28 crore tablets of hydroxychloroquine, which is three time more than the projected requirement of one crore tablets in the country for the coming week and that tie-ups have been made for additional supply of 2 to 3 crore tablets for the future need.
Apart from favipiravir and remdesivir, its key Covid-19 products, DRL has already launched nutraceutical products and hand sanitisers during the pandemic.
India lost its competitive advantage as China gave fiscal benefits to its local manufacturers. Besides, recent policy flip-flops have, however, dented India's image as the 'pharmacy of the world'.
'She used to call me every day to check whether I was all right. You know how mothers are!'
The health ministry on Saturday recommended the use of antiviral drug remdesivir in moderate stage of COVID-19 while backtracking from its earlier stance on hydroxychloroquine, saying the anti-malarial drug should be used in the early course of the disease and not on critically ill patients.
As the pandemic spreads and the urgency for effective treatment of COVID-19 mounts, several countries, including the US, have started relying heavily on HCQ, majorly used in the treatment of malaria and rheumatoid-arthritis.
With the government asking the companies to operate with only 50 per cent staff strength, and exports dipping to almost zero, the truck and bus drivers idling at the petrol pump say they hardly have any work now. At a petrol pump on the deserted Bavla-Changodar highway near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, several trucks and buses are neatly parked in a row.
The global heath body had earlier suspended the hydroxychloroquine arm of the clinical trials of experimental COVID-19 drugs over safety concerns.
'We cannot be naughty and expect the government to do good!' 'We have to behave ourselves and then we can expect the government to support us.' 'If we are able to protect ourselves well, then we should not be having deaths.' 'Unfortunately, people have gotten into this super scary event participation (mode) -- birthday parties, large gatherings.' 'Among the people who have attended those, 80 to 90 per cent of them have come down with COVID-19.'
'Some of the longer-term implications of COVID-19 are not related to the virus itself.' 'They are actually related to immune responses from the virus.'
'The social distancing vaccine.' 'And the mask vaccine.' 'If you adhere to these two vaccines and go and meet people in a well-ventilated room -- not in an enclosed, non-ventilated, room -- you are probably going to be okay.'
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