This Tuesday (7), the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies to the Unified Health System (Conitec) approved an opinion that rejects the use of chloroquine, azithromycin, ivermectin and other drugs without efficacy against Covid-19 for the treatment of disease patients who are not hospitalized.
In an interview with CNN, the coordinator of the group responsible for the study that supported the Conitec guideline, Carlos Carvalho explained that, on Tuesday, the document was revised after being discussed at a first meeting, in October, and having been subject to public consultation, in November. “Yesterday, we from the group of researchers, professors and specialists from different medical areas delivered the document in its final form so that the Conitec plenary could take a position,” he said.
At the first meeting called in October, members of the Ministry of Health disagreed with the team of experts. Now, after public consultation and final approval this Tuesday (7) by Conitec, the report will be sent to the Department of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Health Inputs of the Ministry of Health, which will decide whether or not to incorporate the recommendation.
“Conitec’s recommendation does not have a normative function, it does not obligate or release it”, explained Carlos Carvalho. The pulmonologist and coordinator of the respiratory ICU at Incor said that, to support this report, an extensive study was carried out evaluating all the scientific recommendations on these drugs since January 2020.
“We studied at least 10 forms of pre-hospital treatment. Among them, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, azithromycin, the use of steroids, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and none of them showed any positive action in the pre-hospital phase of Covid-19”, he stated.
Asked if there was political pressure for the specialists’ recommendation to be different, Carlos said that he is not aware of any reports of pressure or interference in the discussions. “There were discussions. Some who defended certain ways of using medicines, others who did not, but the final result is the one presented. Whether Conitec, as an entity, was pressured, I cannot say”, he said.
Reference: CNN Brasil
