The Department of Health DOH has yet to recommend the use of chloroquine in treating COVID-19. Chloroquine a drug used to treat malaria, DOH said on Sunday.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said, that the agency is still working with medical experts in the country to come up with clinical guidelines.

Based on the report from ANC, Vergiere said: “For anybody to use this now, we need hard evidence so we can be able to minimize side effects if ever”.

“Our advisory was, they need to wait, and for those who are already using it, there should be informed consent and there should be guidance from their attending physicians.”

Vergeire warned everyone that the authorities will begin to monitor the sale of the drug on Monday. However, the chloroquine anti-malarial does not prevent COVID-19 also, it can affect a person’s liver and it can interact with other medicines.

“We are advising citizens, especially those who have co-existing conditions and are taking other medicines to go see your physician first, go wait for the DOH advisory before you use this.”

According to Vergerie, “The Food and Drug Administration has already been alerted. Starting Monday, we will go around monitoring and also have this advisory for our retail outlets not to sell this for any specific reason other than malaria.”

Also, on Thursday, the US President Donald Trump said that the anti-malarial drug had been “approved” to treat COVID-19 by America’s Food and Drug Administration. That is only for the head of the agency to row back and say it had not yet been given a definitive green light. 

The drug has recently been used to treat coronavirus patients in China and in France, and some researchers said that it showed a great effect. Although scientists also agree that only more trials will determine if it really works and if it is safe. 

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