A four-drug mix for COVID-19 patients, who are at the potential threat to develop pneumonia, is proving to be quite beneficial in a Kerala hospital and could also become an international medicine for treating the virus, doctors have said.
COVID-19 patients require intensive observation and prompt tests, nevertheless this path breaking treatment, based on a four-drug mix, has bagged a global recognition at the Government Medical College (GMC), according to doctors at GMC, Ernakulam.
Refering to a case, top doctors at the emergency clinic reviewed the condition of British national Brian Lockwood who was admitted to the hospital a month ago.
The 57-year-old tourist was admitted to the hospital at Kalamassery on March 15 just before boarding Dubai flight. A 17-day isolation at the hospital was found effective for Lockwood to recuperate from COVID-19.
In a statement issued by National Health Mission (Arogya Keralam), Dr A Fathahudeen and Dr Jacob K Jacob of GMC figured out that Lockwood had only low fever and mild cough. The britisher who arrived in Kerala on March 10 had uderderwent an X-ray test. Seeing the report, we sensed something was wrong. We referred him for a CT scan. That step proved instrumental in Lockwood’s recovery. In his battle, he became the first COVID-19 patient in India to undergo a CT scan,” the doctor said.
On March 17, following respiratory support for breathlessness, Lockwood was administered a unique mix of four drugs: two varieties of HIV anti-virus, and hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.
This treatment is less probable to have the desired result on a patient with advanced stage of coronavirus. However, in this patient’s case, no fever was reported by the eighth day. That was the first sign of an effective recovery, said Dr Fathahudeen.