25 Jul 2021

 Sefhare-Ramokgonami MP, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang, on Friday tabled a motion requesting President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi to invoke his executive powers and issue a directive to include Ivermectin in the national COVID-19 prevention and treatment guidelines. 

Presenting the motion, which was later rejected, Dr Gobotswang said the latest COVID-19 statistics indicated a health emergency because of high morbidity and mortality resulting in grim economic and social consequences that called for urgent prioritisation.

He said the health sector was overstretched with exponential increase of COVID-19 cases that led to patient overflows with those requiring critical care being turned away at hospitals. 

He said according to global reports, Botswana was among countries that were worst affected, but least prepared to prevent and manage COVID-19. 

Dr Gobotswang decried the reluctance to expand facilities that provided critical care compounded by shortage of specialised personnel and the absence of aggressive crush courses for critical health providers. 

The situation, he said, was aggravated by the slow vaccine rollout due to, in part, global shortages and hoarding by developed countries. 

He said COVID-19 was having a devastating effect on Batswana’s psychosocial and economic wellbeing, hence calling for concerted efforts towards the fight against the pandemic. 

Dr Gobotswang contended that there were no effective treatments recommended for routine use in all COVID-19 infections in Botswana, whether mild, moderate and severe. 

He underscored the need for a strategic shift given compelling circumstances to adopt expanded testing, early diagnosis and effective prophylactic besides clinical management with standard treatment protocols. 

With mounting pressure on the health system, Dr Gobotswang said legislators should be compelled to support the use of Ivermectin because there was scientific evidence that it was safe and effective against COVID-19. 

He argued that there was compelling evidence around the globe that countries that had switched to and accepted Ivermectin use for treatment of COVID-19 had reported positive and promising outcomes.

Though initially developed for veterinary use as a new class of drug for treating parasitic infection, Dr Gobotswang noted that Ivermectin was, however, potentially recognised for human use in 1987-88 particularly for the Lymphatic Filariasis and most notably for the devastating disease Onchocerciasis. 

“Today Ivermectin is a well-known medication widely used in low and middle income countries to treat parasitic infections (dinwamadi, dibokwana tsa mala) in both adults and children. 

Having been used for over three decades for this purpose, it is considered safe and effective and it has an increasing list of indications due to its anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties, he said. 

As such it is included in the World Health Organisation’s Model List of Essential Medicines,” he said. He said Ivermectin had been found to reduce burden of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 and reduced numbers of people progressing to critical disease and death due to COVID-19 related complications. 

He indicated that the use of Ivermectin in Southern Africa had proved recovery rate increased dramatically from 88 per cent to 92 per cent over a week, adding that patients on ventilators dropped from 70 per cent to 30 per cent.

 Dr Gobotswang said as Botswana experienced a third variant (wave) of COVID-19 associated with increased deaths there was wide-spread use of medical products containing Ivermectin obtained from veterinary outlets and black market. 

He regretted that more people were using Ivermectin products out of desperation without the supervision of a qualified medical personnel, hence under the circumstances issues of quality and safety were compromised exposing people to harmful effects of possible abuse of such products. 

He said advocacy for the registration of Ivermectin had intensified led by Botswana COVID-19 Ivermectin Intervention Group (BCIIG), a multidisciplinary group of scientists, health professionals and community members. ENDS