The Dr. NTR Government General Hospital is now part of a global effort to find an effective treatment for COVID-19.
The Vijayawada GGH has been selected as the hospital in Andhra Pradesh for the World Health Organisation (WHO) sponsored ‘Solidarity Clinical Trials’. These clinical trials are an international effort to find the best treatment for COVID-19.
The GGH and the Siddhartha Medical College (SMC) Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) chairman T.V. Narayana Rao told The Hindu that as part of the Solidarity Trials, four treatment options would be compared to assess their relative effectiveness against COVID-19.
By enrolling patients in multiple countries the Solidarity Trials aim at quickly discovering whether any of the drugs were able to slow down the progression of the disease or improve the survival rate of patients. Other drugs besides the four specified could be added based on emerging evidence, Dr. Narayana Rao said.
Criteria
Explaining the criteria for selection of hospital for the WHO-sponsored trials, Dr. Narayana Rao said that one hospital was selected in each State. The number of cases and admissions each day, presence of a COVID hospital, an Institutional Ethics Committee and established clinical trial unit, were taken into consideration, he explained.
While stating the global effort to find an effective treatment for the viral disease, WHO cautioned against physicians and medical associations recommending or administering these unproven treatments to patients with COVID-19 or people self-medicating with them. The organisation said that it was concerned by reports of individuals self-medicating with chloroquine and causing themselves serious harm.
The WHO, in association with ICMR, would closely monitor the trials and analyse the results.
