MAPUSA
The State government has dropped the proposal of purchasing Ivermectin after the central government recently dropped the anti-parasitic drug from its Covid management protocol.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed that the government has decided to drop the proposal to purchase Ivermectin for prophylaxis after Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) decided to discontinue the drug for treatment.
“Since ICMR has dropped Ivermectin for treatment of Covid-19, we have decided not to purchase the drug. We had bought Ivermectin to be included in the home isolation kit. The ICMR then had recommended the drug. That time, even Doxycycline and zinc were recommended for use of treatment which has now been discontinued,” Sawant said while briefing the media after a cabinet meeting.
The CM said the government had never purchased huge amount of Ivermectin, as claimed by the opposition Congress.
“We never bought Ivermectin for prophylaxis treatment. The claim that Rs 22 crore was spent to purchase the drug is to mislead the people. People should not make baseless statements. They should first study the matter,” he said.
It may be recalled in early May, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had said that all adults infected with Covid-19 would be treated with Ivermectin.
He had said that the health department would be tasked with the job of distributing the tablets free of cost.
Later, when the decision to use Ivermectin for treatment was challenged in the High Court, the State was directed not to use the medicine as prophylaxis but as part of treatment for Covid patients.
The President of Indian Academy of Paediatrics (Goa Chapter) Dr Dhanesh Volvoikar had stated that recommending Ivermectin as a line of treatment for Covid-19 was “unscientific practice”.
