Government may have given the green light for the use of Ivermectin against Covid-19, but doctors say it is an administrative nightmare getting the drug to patients.
In order to dispense Ivermectin, medical practitioners must fill out an 11-page application form for each patient, and pay a R330 application fee.
The anti-parasitic drug continues to be an unregistered product according to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra). However, doctors can apply to access the drug for human use if they submit a Section 21 application.
But Dr. Naseeba Kathrada, who previously wrote to the president asking for permission to use the drug widely on behalf of doctors, said Sahpra’s announcement was nothing but a PR exercise.
Venting her anger on social media, she said Sahpra trusted doctors to prescribe schedule eight drugs like morphine but did not trust them to dispense “this safe 40-year-old drug”.
She said she had filed two applications for the drug last week, one for a patient who was dying in ICU, but Sahpra had not yet approved them.
“This is nothing but a delaying tactic. Only God knows why you are doing this because now I am at a loss for words … anger and disappointment. I would like an explanation,” she said.
Human rights lawyer and director of RKP Attorneys, Rehana Khan Parker, called the application “an administrative nightmare” while questioning the R330 fee.
“What happens to the vulnerable and marginalised?”
Meanwhile, officials continue to clamp down on mense trying to get Ivermectin into the country.
Last week, cops and customs officials nabbed six people trying to smokkel Ivermectin tablets worth an estimated R6 million at the OR Tambo International Airport.
The suspects - four men and two women - all arrived on flights from India.