More than 215,000 people signed a petition urging French officials to allow more doctors to prescribe the drug used to treat malaria chloroquine to Covid-19 patients, a controversial proposal that health experts around the world have divided About it.
Support for this treatment is increasing at a time when doctors are trying to relieve the pressure caused by the outbreak of the new Corona virus in hospitals, as some indicate that early use of chloroquine and other similar drugs can help alleviate the symptoms and thus alleviate the need to transfer patients to the intensive care department.
A group of doctors, including cardiologist and former French Minister of Health, Philippe Douste-Blazy, launched the petition on the "Cheng.Org" website on Friday.
On Monday, three of France´s leading doctors wrote an open letter supporting the use of chloroquine despite the lack of proven studies on its efficacy.
In the absence of any antidotes capable of treating Covid-19 patients, doctors wrote in the newspaper "Lovigaro", "We believe that implementing a new strategy is logical, given the preliminary results."
The "pathological" results of microbiologist Didier Raoul, who treated dozens of patients in his department at a hospital in Marseille, caused this controversy in France.
But other doctors, who had previously warned about the serious side effects of the drug, criticized Raoul while France last month issued a decree allowing chloroquine to be prescribed only to Covid-19 patients whose conditions are very critical.
US President Donald Trump has noted Raul´s results in his defense of chloroquine despite his health advisers´ reservations. "What are you going to lose?" He asked during a press briefing in Washington on Sunday.
French Health Minister Olivier Ferrand called again on Saturday for caution, noting that preliminary results of clinical studies on chloroquine and other possible treatments for Covid-19 will be issued within days.
