Healing center using Ivermectin for COVID-19 patients being pushed
A Filipino doctor advocating the use of the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin against the coronavirus disease said on Monday that his group are planning to put up a "healing center" in Metro Manila using such drug.
In a virtual forum, Allan Landrito said he has dispensed Ivermectin to more than 8,000 individuals from July last year to present.
He said that efficacy rate in using Ivermectin as prohylaxis is 99 percent.
"Prohylaxis means you give Ivermectin early and then people are protected, they don't get COVID-19," he said.
Landrito, however, could not say the effect of ivermectin as "late treatment" for a person infected with COVID-19.
He advised the use of one capsule of Ivermectin as prohylaxis every two weeks. And it can be taken for as long as there is a pandemic since it has no serious health effect.
Based on the experience of his patients, Landrito said some side effects of the drug are soft to watery stools, abdominal cramping, and rashes or allegy and there were no adverse reactions reported so far.
To avoid any legal problem, Landrito said he told the patients that Ivermectin is not registered.
"We are planning on putting up COVID healing center or sort of makeshift hospital, temporary hospital to address the need. There are lots of patients who are overflowing from the hospitals...they are just in the ERs (emergency rooms) and sometimes dying in the ER. They were not given Ivermectin," he said.
He said they will allow relatives to be "side by side on the beds of patients" as this can be a big factor for the healing of the patient.
The relatives will also be given Ivermectin, he said.
Under the current set-up in hospitals, relatives of COVID-19 patients are not allowed to visit them to prevent acquiring the virus.
Landrito said they will apply for compassionate special permit from the Food and Drug Administration for the use of Ivermectin in the healing center, which can have a capacity of 200 to 300.
He said their group are now looking for doctors and nurses who can help them since he cannot do it alone.
"We want to hasten the process as soon as possible and start operation," he said, noting that there will be no difficulty for the funding requirement.
When asked about the COVID-19 vaccine, which he thinks can be effective, the doctor said he is not recommending anything.
Sergion Ortiz-Luis Jr., chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also an advocate of the use of Ivermectin against COVID-19, said he has relatives and friends who have been using the drug
He wondered why the government has not officially allowing Ivermectin as treatment against coronavirus.
"Until now it's a puzzle to me why government has not allowed its usage. Everything that they do, there's a solution, but they find problems. They should look for solution. It's not the other way around. Every solution we propose, they find problem," he said.
"Is it possible they have commitment also with benefactors, which probably the pharmaceutical industries who's going to lose money because of this or is it the DOH (Department of Health) itself or personal benefits that they get? That is why everything is being done to hold ivermectin from the public," the businessman said.
Following strong push for the use of ivermectin from various sectors, including some lawmakers, President Rodrigo Duterte recently ordered the DOH and the Department of Science and Technology to conduct a clinical trial on the use of ivermectin as possible treatment for COVID-19.
Earlier, the FDA warned the public from using Ivermectin against COVID-19 due to its possible negative effects. Celerina Monte/DMS
