New Delhi: The Health Ministry on Saturday updated the clinical management protocol for managing Covid-19 cases, advising use of Dexamethasone as an alternative to Methylprednisolone for managing moderate to severe cases. It said the new advice is to keep pace with the evolving knowledge about the disease. The change has been made after considering the latest available evidence and expert consultation, the ministry underlined. “Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid drugused ina wide range of conditions for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects.
The drug has been tested in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the RECOVERY clinical trial and was found to have benefits for critically ill patients and has been shown to reduce mortality by about one third for patients on ventilators, and by about one fifth for patients being maintained on oxygen therapy. The drug is also a part of the National List of EssentialMedicines (NLEM) and is widely available,” Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said.
She has forwarded the updated protocol to all states/ UTs, asking them to make arrangements for availability and use of drug Dexamethasone at the institutional level also. The last update to the clinical management protocol was done on June 13. India is following the British scientists who were the first to find that Dexamethasone reduces mortality of the Covid-19 patients to great extent. It is a steroid used in the treatment of New protocol to maintain Covid casesany conditions, including rheumatic problems, a number of skin diseases, severe allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, croup, brain swelling, eye pain following eye surgery, and tuberculosis. A ministry spokesman said the guidance document has also been made available online on the website of the Health Ministry at: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/ClinicalManagementProtocolforCOVID19dated27062020.pdf