27/09/2020
Why is the medical world excited about it? Because the cheap and widely available steroid is a potential life-saving drug for critically ill COVID-19 patients. That’s what the researchers at the University of Oxford discovered.
In their study, the drug has been found to reduce the mortality of the sickest patients. Which is more like virtually pulling them away from the doorstep of death.
The medication is of no use to corona patients with mild symptoms, but that doesn’t matter. They don’t require hospitalisation. No medicines too, as their treatment is more symptomatic.
Critically ill patients
COVID-19 patients are generally hospitalized only when their lungs are affected. They will require assisted breathing. A patient on a ventilator is at a critical stage. So when a drug reduces deaths by one-third, that is enough cause for jubilation. It’s a life-saver! Until now, there have been no effective drugs to treat these dying patients. The drug is also found to be effective for patients who need oxygen support.
60000SP to save a life
Prof Martin Landry, co-leading the trial, said the findings indicate that one life could be saved for £35. That would be around 60000SP
“The treatment is up to 10 days of dexamethasone. It costs in the order of £5 for a complete course of treatment in the NHS,” he was quoted as saying.
“For less than £50 pounds, you can treat eight patients and save a life,” he said in an online briefing. One death would be prevented in every 25 COVID-19 patients on oxygen that received the drug, he calculated.
Can everyone use dexamethasone?
No, it works only on COVID-19 patients hospitalized with breathing difficulties. Which means they will be on ventilators or oxygen support.
People with mild illness are treated symptomatically. In most cases, paracetamol is enough.
