KUWAIT: The health ministry has decided to withdraw all quantities of medicines containing hydroxylchloroquine or chloroquine from private pharmacies and limit them to hospitals and health centers only.
In a statement to KUNA, the ministry's Undersecretary of Health for Drug and Food Control Affairs Dr Abdullah Al-Bader said Tuesday that the decision stipulated to obligate pharmacies to provide the drug inspection department with a detailed statement of these drugs' quantities.
The decision came in the interest of the ministry to tighten control over the exchange and circulation of medicines and to preserve the health of patients, he added. Bader indicated that it aims to track and monitor the quantities spent from these drugs to prevent misuse or monopoly and provide it to patients for reasons of use approved by the health ministry.
He noted that the drug Blacknell, which contains hydroxychloroquine, is registered in Kuwait to treat immune diseases such as arthritis, lupus and skin allergy diseases, pointing that it has not been licensed and approved so far from normal bodies as a drug to treat the coronavirus.
This treatment is currently used as an experimental treatment within protocols for specific cases of patients under the supervision of specialized medical staff who closely follow the patient and monitor the occurrence of any adverse symptoms or complications during the treatment period. - KUNA