Mistakes from Covid-19 second wave being repeated: doctors write to govt

As many as 32 prominent doctors from India and abroad have written a letter to the Union as well as state governments and warned about "inappropriate" diagnostic methods and medications being used to deal with the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Wanton use of drugs" can be harmful, as seen during the earlier two waves of the pandemic, they warned in the open letter.

They wrote that despite the weight of available evidence and the crushing death toll of the delta wave, the mistakes of the 2021 response are being repeated in 2022 during the clinical management of Covid-19.

They urged Union and state govts to intervene to stop the use of medications and diagnostics that are inappropriate for clinical management of the disease.

The "vast majority of patients" who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms will require little or no medication, the letter said.

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The doctors said that the prescribing of vitamin combinations, azithromycin, doxycycline, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and ivermectin for treating Covid-19 is irrational practice.