NMA chairman explains use of malaria drugs in treating COVID-19

One of the frontline workers who have staked their lives for the safety of Nigerians even when they are least appreciated and underpaid unlike their counterparts in some African and developed countries of the world even as the world is battling with the COVID-19 pandemic are health personnel.

Dr. Ejiro Carol Iwuoha, the chairman Abia State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in this Exclusive interview speaks on efforts to contain the spread of the virus in the state.

Kindly introduce yourself ma.

I am Dr. Ejiro Iwuoha, chairman Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Abia State chapter.

What would say about the increase in the series of COVID-19 cases recorded in the state?

For the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), it is expected for a disease that moves from person to person.

Secondly is that a lot of our people are yet to accept the reality and seriousness of what we are talking about. With these new cases, we are know that it is going to enhance the health education efforts that we have been making to the patients, to the community and churches because if they know that these cases are here with us, I think that it will drive home the message; that it is not just a government thing. It is something that has to do with our ability to take responsibility for the challenges that we have in our hands.

The general public is saying that enough has not been done by the health managers to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained in the state.

That perception isn’t correct because we are clinicians. We have a responsibility to translate what we see in the health facilities to the community; patients come to us, we are the ones that send them for test, the result comes back to us and it becomes a platform for use to do more community sensitization and to put more structures in place for people to prevent this infection.

So, basically, the responsibility of the Nigerian Medical Association is to draw lessons from the consulting rooms and relate them to the society, knowing that if we all take responsibility like the use of facemask and physical distancing at this time of COVID-19, we would have played a huge role in limiting the spread in our communities.

People like Raymond Dokpesi have questioned the difference between malaria and COVID-19. What is your take on that?

I don’t think that is correct. The difference between malaria and COVID-19 is that while one is a viral infection, another one is parasitic infection. Their mode of transmission is different. If you don’t get bitten by a mosquito that carries the plasmodium parasite, you don’t come down with malaria.

In the case of the virus, nothing is going to bite you; you contract it by getting in contact with droplets from an infected person.

In terms of the management of both, though a lot of advances have been made for anti-malaria, there are at the same time, drugs that act directly against viruses.

To say that malaria and COVID are the same is wrong because their mode of transmissions is different and the care given to the patients are different. We don’t isolate people with malaria because it is not easily transmissible from one person to person.

They may be right in asking questions, but to make presumptions is where we have challenges.

So, why do medical doctors administer malaria drugs on COVID-19 patients?

We are doing a trial to see if we can prove it because. You can only prove it only when you follow-up the cases to monitor if there will be any complication. You compare if those that were on the drug did better than those that were not on the drug.

If you are just managing people and you don’t have a control, then, it is not a scientific data. Because of the panic of the new disease and the quest for solution, there are so many assumptions and presumptions, but the ultimate is a scientific evidence of what works.

Several tests on one of the septuagenarians in one of the isolation centers have been inconsistent. What is the reason for that?

The patient didn’t have anti-malaria. The reason is that he already has a heart that is compromised, so we wouldn’t want to give a drug that we know acts adversely on the heart. That is why I said that it is not enough to just conclude, there has to be scientific data and evidence to support what you are doing.

Let me quickly add that the severity of the illness varies from person to person. He has recovered from COVID-19, but he has other challenges that are still with him. That is an evidence that the severity of the infection varies from person to person.

Your members have complained that enough hasn’t been done to ensure their safety. Has there been any improvement?

I wouldn’t really know which angle that you are coming from, in terms of enough being done to ensure safety.

The issue of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is a collective responsibility. If you don’t have PPEs in the hospital, you demand and follow-up on the demand to make sure that you get it. Ordinarily, you would expect that management should know, but in a big facility, for example, demand varies according to units. So, if you don’t have, you ask for what you don’t have instead of assuming that it would be brought to you. The management provides, while the health personnel demand so that you get what you need per time.

How safe is the locally produced mask?

The cloth mask that we have (in Abia) can do a lot. If one is putting on the Nose Mask, it will reduce what get at the person when another person by the side sneezes.

However, because of the environment (hospital) where we work, the N95 which has the ability to trap the aerosols