Covid-19: Maharashtra may hand out anti-malaria drug as preventive med

MUMBAI: Worried that Covid-19 cases may rise exponentially in the city’s densely populated slums, the Maharashtra government is considering giving hydroxychloroquine sulphate (HCQS) tablets as a “preventive medicine” to slum residents at highest risk of the infection.

A high-ranking state government official said suspected patients kept in quarantine centres in Dharavi were likely to be the first to receive HCQS-an antimalarial drug that US president Donald Trump wanted India to supply to the US as it could be a “game-changer” in the fight against Covid-19. “In places like Dharavi, the plan is more a socio-demographic compulsion,” the state government official said.

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If the state plans go through, it could be the first time that HCQS is used as a Covid-19 prophylaxis at the community level.

Confirming the move, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said