The president of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), Roman Macaya, announced on Monday that the Pharmacotherapy Committee of the institution will be convened to review the results that have been seen in the country with the use of hydroxychloroquine in patients with covid-19.
It will be necessary, he said, to contrast the contexts and make an assessment of whether or not the use will be maintained after the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday decided to temporarily suspend clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a virtual press conference the decision came after the publication last week of a study in The Lancet finding that using that hydroxychloroquine, as well as the anti-malarial chloroquine on COVID-19 patients could have side effects, particularly heart arrhythmia.
Macaya said that among the 96,000 patients in the study there are many mixed situations, but all are hospitalized with covid-19, and those who, eventually, could have side effects, although not necessarily as a consequence of the virus.
Macaya added that patients who were given the drug could be included despite having contraindications. However, the use that has been given in Costa Rica is different from that given in other countries.
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In Costa Rica, patients are offered the option to take hydroxychloroquine upon their diagnosis, as long as they don’t have contraindications to the drug
“In Costa Rica, the option is given as soon as a patient is diagnosed, they begin to take hydroxychloroquine after a filter that does not have the contraindications known in that phase, where the effect is more antiviral, it may have an effect.
“The numbers that we see in Costa Rica are interesting. Of the total of patients 9.5% has evolved to require hospitalization, it is one of the lowest rates in the world. We cannot say that it is because of this medicine, but we cannot rule it out either,” he added.
Still, he said, usage will be reviewed and a decision will be made in a very short time.
Costa Rica’s fatality rate from covid-19 is very low (1.08%), and less than 5% of known active coronavirus cases are currently hospitalized.
