Select date

May 2024
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

Is there a doctor in the house? Nevada state medical team that banned malaria drug for coronavirus lacks qualification

25-3-2020 < RT 27 321 words
 

Nevada’s top health officials lack the qualifications one might expect in leaders making public health recommendations for the US, but that hasn’t stopped them from attacking a potential Covid-19 treatment.


Trump’s detractors in the Nevada state health department have moved heaven and earth to stop doctors in the state from prescribing two drugs the president deemed promising for treatment of coronavirus, insisting he’s not qualified enough for his opinion to outweigh a lack of medical consensus. However, a few Twitter detectives discovered on Wednesday that these “professionals” don’t seem to have all the necessary licenses and qualifications to practice medicine in the US either.


Also on rt.com Devil in the details: Media jumps to blame Trump for death of man who self-medicated with FISH TANK CLEANER containing chloroquine

At the urging of his state medical advisors, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak banned the use of FDA-approved malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat coronavirus in an emergency order issued on Tuesday. 


The order tightly restricts supply of the drugs, limiting even non-coronavirus cases to a 30-day supply. Sisolak, a Democrat, explained it was a safety measure to prevent hoarding of the malaria medicines and ensure continued supply to the patients who desperately need them.


Pushing the loudest for the restrictions had been Ihsan Azzam, Nevada’s chief medical officer. While Azzam has a masters degree and prior experience in environmental public health and epidemiology, fulfilling the qualifications required to hold the state post, his only experience actually practicing medicine came from an obstetrics and gynecology department in an African hospital over two decades ago.



Print