PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry today called on the public not to use dexamethasone without a doctor's prescription.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said though the medicine is useful in treating Covid-19 patients, especially those in Category 5, the public, however, should not use it without doctor's prescription.
"Furthermore, a clinical trial found that this drug was not helpful in the treatment of Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms or patients who do not need breathing assistance," he told a press conference today.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry's health facilities have been using the medicine for many illnesses, including cancer.
"We have evidence to show dexamethasone works for Covid-19 patients, especially those at Category 5, where the patients have been ventilated.
"We have been using this medicine on Covid-19 patients in that category, about 4mg twice or three times a day, for a maximum of five days.
"About one-third of them responded to the treatment and recover," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham added the use of dexamethasone was not something new.
"From day one we have been using this medicine. This useful drug that has been in our formulary, and we have been using this for other diseases as well.
"However, because of this Covid-19 infection, as I said, every day brings new lessons and challenges," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham added; "We must be careful in terms of usage of this medicine as it has side effects and complications as well."
It was reported earlier that researchers led by a team from Oxford University had administered the widely available drug to more than 2,000 severely ill Covid-19 patients, and the drug had significantly reduced the risk of death among them.