In a significant decision, the Government has allowed the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a preventive medication for asymptomatic healthcare workers deployed in non-Covid-19 hospitals, frontline staff on surveillance duty in containment zones, and paramilitary/police personnel involved in coronavirus infection related activities.
The revised advisory issued by the ICMR, however, cautioned that the intake of the medicine should not instill a sense of false security.
The recommendation followed meeting of the Joint Monitoring Group under the Chairmanship of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and representatives from AIIMS, ICMR, National Centre for Disease Control, National Disaster Management Authority, WHO and experts drawn from central government hospitals. They reviewed the prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the context of expanding it to healthcare and other frontline workers deployed in non-Covid-19 and Covid-19 areas.
The drug is not recommended for prophylaxis in children under 15 years of age and in pregnancy and lactation, the advisory said.
The advisory said in rare cases the drug causes cardiovascular side effects such as cardiomyopathy and rhythm (heart rate) disorders, it said.
"In that situation the drug needs to be discontinued. The drug can rarely cause visual disturbance including blurring of vision which is usually self-limiting and improves on discontinuation of the drug," the revised advisory said.
The drug has to be given under strict medical supervision with an informed consent, it stated.
The data on assessment of HCQ prophylaxis among 1,323 healthcare workers indicated mild adverse effects such as nausea (8.9 per cent), abdominal pain (7.3 per cent), vomiting (1.5 per cent), hypoglycemia (1.7 per cent) and cardio-vascular effects (1.9 per cent), the advisory said.
However, as per the data from the Pharma covigilance programme of India, there have been 214 reported instances of adverse drug reactions associated with prophylactic HCQ use, it said.