dexamethasone
The excitement which greeted the discovery of a cheap and widely available drug that experts say can save the lives of Covid-19 patients has resonated in Ghana.
Following the announcement in the British media on Tuesday, that a low-dose steroid has been discovered to save the lives of Covid-19 patients, the story spread across the country like wildfire.
The low-dose steroid treatment, ‘dexamethasone’, was a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts said soon after the announcement.
The drug is part of the world’s biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.
It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators; and for those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth, the report said.
Had the drug been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers said.
The UK government has 200,000 courses of the drug in its stockpile, and says the NHS will make dexamethasone available to patients.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was a genuine case to celebrate “a remarkable British scientific achievement,” adding, “We have taken steps to ensure we have enough supplies, even in the event of a second peak.”
Chief Medical Officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, said it would save lives around the world.