The Director of Public Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Badu Sarkodie, says there is no evidence that Chloroquine Phosphate 250mg is an effective treatment for the flu-like coronavirus (COVID-19).
Reacting to claims on social media that Chloroquine Phosphate 250mg had been found by French and Chinese doctors to be effective for the treatment of the virus, Dr. Sarkodie told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Tuesday that although the claim sounded promising, the GHS had not done any clinical trial over its veracity.
They could therefore not make any recommendation for the use of the drug to treat the virus.
“I cannot dispute the claim so the person saying this should provide more information because we have not sighted any publication to this effect,” he added.
The coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan in Hubei Province of China, is now spreading much more rapidly outside it than within the country, making the world poised for a global pandemic .
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the outbreak could still be contained.
So far all 33 suspected cases in Ghana have tested negative for the virus.
DAP/GIK/as/APA