Experts warn on self medication against COVID-19
Social media has for the past few weeks been awash with several self medication ideas and prescriptions for treating COVID-19
The Ministry of Health has warned the public against self medication against COVID-19 saying this might have unwanted outcomes.
Social media has for the past few weeks been awash with several self medication ideas and prescriptions for treating COVID-19 using steaming, traditional herbs among others.
In an interview with NBS Television, Dr. Ivan Kimuli, a medical doctor from Mulago National Hospital said in an interview that this is wrong.
“The dangers of self medication are multiple, one of the dangers is incorrect diagonally, there is nothing as bad as giving yourself a remedy for something you are not suffering from,” Dr. Kimuli said.
Dr. Kimuli said people who think they have Covid-19 and start treating themselves depending on that thoughts, may suffer worse outcomes in case it turns out that they don’t have Covid-19.
Dr. Kimuli said that this is because there are some medicines which can not be given to some categories of people and self medication does not put this in consideration.
“For example, there are drugs someon is not supposed to take because they have some underlying conditions. When females are pregnant, they can also take drugs that will affect the baby.”
Dr. Kimuli said that some of the medication that is being self administered simply masks symptoms but does not treat the disease. This according to Dr. Kimuli might have consequences.
“If you have a temperature and use antibiotics, you might control the temperature but you will miss the cause of this temperature. The disease will continue growing inside you and by the time you come to hospital, it could be late.”
Recommendations
The Ministry of Health, in a statement said that due to the high number of Covid-19 patients, hospitals are full and may not be able to admit all that test positive for Covid-19.
The health ministry recommended that if someone presents symptoms, they should first test for Covid-19 and if found positive but with no or mild symptoms, isolate at home and take prescriptions issued by a medical worker.
