Five persons, including a 10-month-old, who recovered from COVID-19, were given a triple drug combination of hydroxychloroquine, oseltamivir and azithromycin, according to authorities of the Government Medical College and ESI Hospital, Coimbatore, where they were being treated.
The hospital, according to its dean A. Nirmala, is also giving the combination to COVID-19 patients still under its care.
She said that the hospital followed a seven-day course of the drug combination for the five persons who recovered from COVID-19 — a woman doctor, her 10-month-old son, her house help, a businessman from Tiruppur and a Coimbatore woman who returned from Spain. One drug in the combination was omitted for the baby.
They were discharged from the hospital on Monday and will remain under home quarantine for 28 days.
According to Dr. Nirmala, the hospital was giving the same drug combination to 86 COVID-19 patients from Coimbatore and neighbouring districts like the Nilgiris and Tiruppur, who were under treatment as on Wednesday.
“We are following the drug combination only for those who tested positive for COVID-19. Those having symptoms with test results awaited are not being given the drugs,” she said.
While hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial drug, oseltamivir is used for the treatment of H1N1. Azithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat various bacterial infections.
Results being reviewed
Director of Public Health K. Kolandasamy said that a technical committee for the management of COVID-19 cases in the State was reviewing the results of the use of these recommended drugs, on a daily basis.
The 20-member committee has medical experts from government and private sectors, including retired doctors. The committee was reviewing two to three cases a day.
He said that hospitals that are into COVID-19 management were also focusing on treating co-morbid conditions of patients, if they had any.
