If the reports from leading media house are anything to go by, health authorities of India are planning to administer a mass experiment with Hydroxychloroquine drug on two areas in Mumbai, one os Asia’s largest and most crowded slum Dharavi and the other is Worli.
The malarial drug Hydroxychloroquine is much campaigned by the US President Donald Trump, as a potential treatment for coronavirus, though it is still not proven in any trails. With the growing number of coronavirus cases in India and pressure mounted on authorities to control the spread amid lockdown struggles and economic slowdown, the health officials are planning a mass experiment in the economic capital of India.
While the drug is not proven to treat coronavirus-infected yet, this experiment to test it as prophylaxis, preventive medicine is raising many questions. The densely populated slum Dharavi is one target and the badly hit Worli in Mumbai is the second, where the officials are planning to starts Hydroxychloroquine dosing drive as pre-emptive medication.
There are many complaints about Hydroxychloqoruine’s alleged side effects, and the plan to give the medicine only to the people who are willing and after recording their personal and medical history. The officials are on plans to dose 50,000 people between the ages 18 to 55, those without any pre-existing heart and liver ailments
More than 4500 health care workers could be put on this job with 25-30 houses each to track on medication and spotting side effects for three to seven weeks during the drug administered.