Source: TechStartUps
As coronavirus death toll continues to rise around the world, there is a growing call for the use of use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Today, 12 French doctors led by Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy and Dr. Christian Perronne, have started a petition at Change.org urging French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and his Minister of Health, to urgently make hydroxychloroquine available in all hospital pharmacies, so that each hospital doctor can prescribe to all patients with symptomatic form of the Covid-19 condition, particularly those with pulmonary disorders if their condition requires it.
Below is a translation of their petition in English.
We are living in a major global health crisis and our country is severely hit by the Covid-19 epidemic wave.
Every day we mourn many deaths. Against this disease, we have neither vaccines nor antiviral treatment even if the current scientific data are patchy and discordant.
Recent Chinese data have suggested the efficacy of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine in the laboratory and in patients. A study published by Chen et al. (Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with Covid-19: results of a randomized clinical trial) shows the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with Covid-19 suffering from moderately severe pneumonia; the few who worsened did not receive treatment.