INTERVIEW
The debate around hydroxychloroquine is not about to stop. For several weeks, this drug, which would have positive effects on patients with coronavirus, is questioned. In question, the reliability of the studies carried out by its largest promoter Didier Raoult. This Monday, three major pundits of French medicine published a column in Le Figaro, declaring themselves in favor of the recommendations of Professor Raoult, while an online petition has already reached 200,000 signatures in favor of the drug.
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"A request supported by the entire medical community" of the Isle of Beauty
On the political side, the debate is also present. Gilles Simeoni, the president of the Executive Council of Corsica, asks that the island be a "pilot territory" for clinical tests of the remedy popularized by Didier Raoult. "This is a request that is brought by a large majority of Corsican elected officials, all political opinions combined, and which is especially supported by the entire island scientific and medical community," he explains at the microphone of Europe 1 this Monday.
For Gilles Simeoni, two questions are "central" when talking about hydroxychloroquine: "When to give this drug and who to prescribe it?" Currently, treatment can be given in a hospital setting and only in severe cases. "But many doctors say that it should be given at the start (from the onset of symptoms, note )," says Gilles Simeoni. "In particular to avoid the saturation of resuscitation services. We can see that this is a major problem everywhere and it could become a problem in Corsica because we are an island and we do not have many places", justifies t -he.
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"There is no question of self-medication"
The president of the Executive Council of Corsica also pleads so that the drug can be prescribed within the framework of the medicine of city. "We have installed eight Covid-19 centers throughout Corsica and the experiment that we could carry out with the approval of the Ministry of Health and the health authorities would allow us to gain an experiment that could be transposed then on the continent after scientific validation ".
As for the voices raised against hydroxychloroquine after the hospitalization of several patients after a self-medication that caused heart attacks, Gilles Simeoni wants to reassure. "There is no question of self-medication," he explains. "It would be a clinical trial on the scale of Corsica in a strictly standardized framework". "There is a direct interest in doing so, in a framework that would be fully standardized from a legal and medical point of view, it is important", he continues at the microphone of Europe 1. The president of the Executive Council of Corsica recalls also that with the medical supervision linked to clinical tests, the known risks of hydroxychloroquine would be "controlled".
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Gilles Simeoni hopes for an answer in the coming hours
The appeal to the Minister of Health was launched this weekend in the columns of Figaro , and Gilles Simeoni hopes that a decision will be taken as soon as possible. "I hope that in the hours to come, that the Minister of Health tell us 'we are going to do it together, and we must do it together' in the interest of Health and of all people confronted with this. illness ", explains Gilles Simeoni. "We are all together mobilized to save lives, let's move forward as quickly as possible," he concludes.