COVID-19 pandemic: Guidelines key to ensuring uniform treatment protocol, but can be improved upon-Health News , Firstpost
It is also important for the medical community to remain updated on the current guidelines and accommodate the new changes that occur from time to time
Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, for all of us in the healthcare industry, has not only been a very challenging experience but also an enriching one. It has taught us how fallible we could be when dealing with a new disease. As is the practice in any pandemic, guidelines are issued by the various scientific and regulatory bodies to help us manage the disease.
In this pandemic too, various guidelines have been put forth by national bodies like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and international ones like World Health Organisation (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the USA and others. We need to realise and be aware that these guidelines are not written in stone, they are not always gospel truths and may turn out to be erroneous as we learn more about the disease and this is what has happened in this instance too.
Just to give a few examples, initially many scientific bodies including the WHO thought that there is no human-to-human transmission of this virus and no aerosol spread, and therefore masking may not be needed for everyone. All of these turned out to be erroneous once we learnt more about the disease.
There were also multiple guidelines about the prevention and treatment of this disease in the initial phases, including a huge clamour for the use of hydroxychloroquine both for prevention and treatment of the disease; Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Zinc to boost your immunity; use of antibiotics like doxycycline, azithromycin, antiviral drug like Oseltamivir and antiparasitic agent Ivermectin. However, these did not withstand scientific scrutiny over a period of time and have all been withdrawn from the recommendations currently.
There were also very strong recommendation/guidelines to use Remdesivir, plasma therapy and an immunosuppressant monoclonal antibody Tocilizumab, which later on were either modified or withdrawn. Unfortunately, some of these recommendations and some misinterpretation of these recommendations led to a severe shortage of these drugs, resulting in hoarding and black marketing by unsavoury elements in the society.
