AfriForum goes ahead with legal action over Ivermectin as Covid-19 treatment
This despite Sahpra saying it would allow the drug - used to treat livestock - to be used on humans for 'humanitarian reasons' under a controlled access programme.
Civil rights organisation AfriForum said it was going forward with legal action against the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) and health minister Zweli Mkhize to make Ivermectin available to doctors to prescribe it for treating Covid-19.
This was despite Sahpra saying it would allow the drug – which is usually used to treat for parasites in livestock – to be used on humans for “humanitarian reasons” under a controlled access programme.
“Sahpra’s announcement is a step in the right direction,” said AfriForum’s head of research Barend Uys.
“But still does not provide the necessary relief and certainty that we urgently need.”
AfriForum will, therefore, continue its legal action because “people were dying every day, while medicine that could probably save their lives existed”.
“Sahpra has not yet even reacted to the first applicant’s article 21 applications.”
Uys said the regulatory authority’s decision was an “admission” from them that Ivermectin use was “indeed safe” for human use.
During a press briefing hosted by the National Press Club on Wednesday afternoon, Sahpra’s professor Helen Rees cautioned people who were buying and self-medicating with Ivermectin.
“Be careful,” she said.
“We simply do not have enough information on what worked and what didn’t.
“We need to get decent data,” she said, adding that studies of the use of Ivermectin for Covid-19 were underway in various countries.
READ MORE: South African in UAE tells what he experienced after his vaccinations
Meanwhile, Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said they had fast-tracked clinical trials into the use of Ivermectin.
Earlier in the week, Sahpra spokesperson Yuven Gounden said they would not be pressed for comment about the pending legal action against them and minister Mkhize.
“Sahpra is not going to comment on this because it is a court matter and under [the court’s] jurisdiction.
“Both Sahpra and the minister have been subpoenaed so Sahpra cannot comment,” he said.
Sahpra was reportedly opposing the urgent application.
The court application was expected to be heard on Tuesday.
According Sahpra’s website, Ivermectin was used in the treatment and control of parasites in animals (usually livestock), but was not used locally for humans.
It further said Ivermectin was also used to treat a variety of tropical diseases – which were not usually seen in South Africa – in humans along with scabies and head lice.
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