General Director of Sírio-Libanês Hospital Admits to Using Hydroxychloroquine to Treat Coronavirus

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Kalil had a severe condition of the disease, with a potential for transfer to the ICU, showed improvement and was to be discharged yesterday.

“The disease, 80 percent of people do not even know that they have it. For 15 percent it will be a flu, which goes away when you stay at home. The five percent that need hospitalization, are severe. I think it’s worth the use [of hydroxychloroquine], no doubt about it, I’m not afraid to say that,” he said in an interview.

“My opinion is that regardless of ideologies, we should try to minimize the damage to the population and prevent deaths. If there is medication with evidence that there may be benefits, along with other medications, in a situation like this, it must be used and that’s it. There is no discussion”.

And further:

“For medical ethics, I do not want to influence other treatments. It’s a great responsibility. My general condition was terrible, several types of treatments were discussed with the team, including hydroxychloroquine, and I accepted”, he said, when he presented a picture of advanced pneumonia.

“I used hydroxychloroquine, yes. Did I improve just because of it? Probably not. Did it help? I hope it did. I took corticoids, anticoagulants, antibiotics,” he reported.