Gov’t Warns Kenyans Against Using Chloroquine to Treat Covid-19

Kenya’s Health Ministry, through the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, has banned the sale of Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine drugs without a medical doctor’s prescription.

This is after it was established that Kenyans are buying the two drugs from local pharmacies and chemists to self-medicate for coronavirus.

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board has warned that irrational use of the two drugs, which are used to treat Malaria, may lead to irreversible blindness.

The demand for the two drugs rose sharply in the US and other parts of the world after US President Donald Trump recently touted them as a possible treatment for Covid-19 but medical experts are yet to approve the drugs for coronavirus treatment.

“Following the news that the United States of America is using Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine to treat SARS-COV-2, there has been a rush by many to acquire these medicines from pharmacies to stock them.”

 “… Please note that irrational use of this hydroxychloroquine may lead to irreversible blindness which is detrimental to the health of the general public,” the Pharmacy and Poisons Board sain on Thursday.

In the US states of Arizona, a man is reported to have died after he took chloroquine phosphate to self-medicate for Covid-19. The man’s wife is said to be in critical condition.