​Indore: Give Remdesivir only on doctors’ advice​: Dr Vinod Bhandari

Indore

Giving ​R​emdesivir to any patient unnecessarily may affect his/her lungs. The drug is only for restricted use in emergencies and should not be given without doctors’ advice.

This was said by the chairman of Shri Aurobindo Medical College Dr Vinod Bhandari while informing about the use of Remdesivir ​on Covid patient​s​.

“Patients must be given ​R​emdesivir after going through liver function test. It may affect the liver of the patient and it is also suggested to go ​for liver function test after five days of giving ​R​emdesivir. It is not the elixir in the treatment of COVID patients. There are substitutes as well and doctors can shift the patient to oral drugs after a loading dose of the drug,” he said.

Dr Bhandari also added that these all are tried ​and tested ​methods which ​they have been using in SAIMS.

Talking about​​ the shortage of ​Remdesivir, Dr Bhandari said, “Hoarding of the injection is the main reason behind ​the ​shortage. It is the same as the shortage of hydroxychloroquine that we faced ​after the initial outbreak of COVID​-​19. Many people have stored the drug at their homes and even administer it at home without doctors​’​ advice. Some have even stored it for future use due to which the shortage persists.”

Meanwhile, the ​d​ean of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Dr Sanjay Dixit also emphasi​s​ed on restricted use to Remdesivir and said that it should only be given to patient having lung infection over 20 per​ ​cent with decreasing oxygen level.

Dr Dixit also emphasi​s​ed on efficient use of oxygen in the hospitals and said that administering excessive oxygen to any patient may damage the lungs of the patients due to which doctors must monitor the level for the patient’s sake as well as for avoiding wastage.

+box

//IMA and COVID task force prepares SOP for the use of injection

Indian Medical Association-Indore chapter and COVID task force including renowned doctors of the city like Dr Hemant Jain, Dr Salil Bhargava, Dr Satish Joshi, Dr Sourabh Malviya, Dr Ajay Parikh, Dr Dilip Balani, Dr Manish Jain, Dr Deepak Bansal, Dr Manish Jain, Dr Ravi Dosi, Dr Nikhilesh Jain and Dr Vivek Joshi prepared an S​O​P for the use of ​R​emdesivir and instructed the doctors to follow the same for taking a decision over the use of ​R​emdesivir.

The team of doctors also mentioned the use of other medicines during the treatment of the disease.