Doctors in Barbados have been warned against prescribing medications to patients who believe those drugs can mitigate the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The move is also causing some alarm among lupus patients, who fear that one of the drugs – hydroxychloraquine, which is regarded as their “lifesaving” drug – could become unavailable if it is widely dispensed for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Best has sent the caution in correspondence through the president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, Dr Abdon DaSilva.
He said it had been brought to the Ministry of Health’s attention that some doctors were prescribing medications such as antibiotics and chloroquine without appropriate clinical indication, as prevention or treatment for COVID-19.
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