Einstein recommends that doctors at the hospital not use chloroquine against coronavirus.
Albert Einstein Hospital reported that it never had a protocol for the use of chloroquine, but that doctors were prescribing the drug outside of what is indicated in the package insert.
247 - The Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, in the southern part of the city of São Paulo, recommended to its medical staff not to... prescribe chloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19, through a statement issued on Thursday (25). According to the hospital, there was never a protocol for the use of the drug, however, doctors prescribed the drug outside of what is indicated in the package insert (off-label). The information is from the portal G1.
The hospital's decision demonstrated the lack of basis in Jair Bolsonaro's discourse, who has already lobbied for the use of the drug, even without scientific evidence.
According to the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), the "off-label" use of a drug occurs when a medication is prescribed to treat an indication that is not listed in the package insert.
"Off-label use of a medication is done at the prescribing physician's own risk and may eventually constitute medical malpractice, but in most cases it is essentially correct use, just not yet approved," the institution stated.
The Ministry of Defense had said that there are 1,8 million chloroquine tablets The amount of medication is in stock at the Army Laboratory. This represents approximately 18 times the annual production of the drug in previous years. In addition to this stockpile, one million tablets have already been allocated to the Ministry of Health.