Specialists’ Initiative Saves Lives of All Coronavirus Patients in South-West Iran

Physicians at a hospital in Abadan managed to treat all coronavirus patients in the Southwestern Iranian city through the application of a novel method.

“The innovative method of specialists at Taleqani hospital of Abadan on 30 coronavirus patients reduced to zero the death rate of patients in acute health conditions,” Deputy Head of Abadan University of Medical Sciences for Training and Research Sara Mobarak told FNA on Thursday.

She said that the new drug-based method was first tested on 5 patients hospitalized at an ICU ward which helped them recover and be moved to the general section, adding that in the second phase, the medicine was applied to 10 coronavirus patients in the ICU ward with low levels of consciousness.

The drugs showed desirable effects on the second group of the patients too and the level of their consciousness increased, Mobarak said.

She added that the drug combination has not been used in China or any other country before, noting that an essay about the results of the innovative application of the medicine on coronavirus patients in Iran will be released in scientific journals.

Also, last week, officials informed that Iranian researchers had discovered a medicinal compound which could treat the damage inflicted on lungs due to coronavirus infection.

“The new medicinal compound is not special to the coronavirus patients, but it treats respiratory and pulmonary diseases,” Chairman of the Biotechnology Development Council of Iran Mostafa Qaneyee said in a press conference.

He added that the new medicinal compound can decrease the time a coronavirus patient needs to stay at hospital to 4 days, noting that 40% of Iranian patients who received the combination of three drugs have been discharged from hospital in less than 4 days.

“In this treatment method, in addition to the protocols of the health ministry, the three drugs of Azithromycin, Prednisolone and Naproxen have been used as a compound,” Qaneyee said.

“We have observed that the compound rapidly decreases the CRP and the hospitalization period is reduced significantly and of course, this is the start of our research and we will inform you of other researches too after receiving license from the Coronavirus Campaign Headquarters,” he added.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting over 195 countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has so far killed more than 21,300 people and infected over 472,000 others globally.

Iran reported on Wednesday that a total number of 2,077 coronavirus patients have died and 27,017 cases of infection have been identified in the country so far. Meanwhile, 9,625 people have also recovered.

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and universities have been extended until early April.

The government also imposed travel restrictions, specially on Iran’s north, which is among the red zones. The country has also adopted strict digital health control procedures at airports to spot possible infections.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced earlier this month that a new national mobilization plan would be implemented across the country to fight against the coronavirus epidemic and more effectively treat patients.

Namaki said that the plan will include all the 17,000 health centers and the 9,000 medical and clinical centers in all cities, suburban areas and villages.

He added that the plan will include home quarantine, noting that infected people will receive the necessary medicines and advice, but they are asked to stay at home.

Namaki said that people with a more serious condition will stay at the hospitals, adding that the public places will be disinfected, the entries of infected towns and cities will be controlled to diagnose and quarantine the infected cases.

He added that the necessary equipment and facilities have been provided, expressing the hope that the epidemic would be curbed.

Namaki said that the number of medical laboratories to test coronavirus infection has reached 22, and will increase to 40 soon.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Iran’s response to the virus has so far been up to the mark. Still, it says the US sanctions are a big challenge, and Washington would be complicit in the rising death toll in Iran if it would not remove its sanctions.

The World Health Organization has considered priorities in combating coronavirus and Islamic Republic of Iran obeys and follows up priorities as defined by WHO.

The WHO is dispatching separate delegations to all countries.