Panaji, May 12 (IANS): The dean of the state government's apex health facility, the Goa Medical College, has defended the use of ivermectin as a preventive drug for Covid prevention for all persons above 18 year in Goa even as WHO believes otherwise.
The dean Dr. Shivanand Bandekar said that ivermectin is a "very good drug" and that there were clinical trials to prove the same.
"There are many trials on this. It is considered to be a very good drug. It is a very good drug and our expert committee, the state expert committee has accepted it no," the dean has said.
The top official's comments come a day after Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the World Health Organisation cautioned against the using the drug without clinical trials.
"Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. @WHO recommends against the use of ivermectin for #COVID19 except within clinical trials," Swaminathan had tweeted on Tuesday.
The Goa Opposition has also opposed the indiscriminate use of ivermectin, a drug which is used to combat parasite infections, as a preventive drug in the state's Covid management protocol.
"#GoaCovidCrisis Who prescribed #Ivermectin to corrupt Health Minister @visranefor Prophylaxis Treatment to Goans? Did he obtain approval from @PMOIndia, @MoHFW_INDIA? Is the treatment approved by @WHO? Will @ICMRDELHI respond? @goacm @GovtofGoa must clarify immediately @INCGoa," state Congress president Girish Chodankar had tweeted.
"An intensely scary #COVIDSecondWave made scarier by imposing unproven treatments on unsuspecting #Goans. Who's running this show? Where's this heading? Who's profiting from this? #WHO #Ivermectin #COVIDEmergencyGoa," former Dy. CM and Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai had also tweeted.
The Goa government on Monday had amended its Covid treatment protocol, recommending that all persons above the age of 18 should take five tablets of ivermectin, to prevent the viral load, which more of then than not causes excessive trauma and even death in Covid-19 positive patients.