Hospital System: Drug Hydroxychloroquine

hospital system: Still, it acknowledged that VA Secretary Robert Wilkie had wrongly asserted publicly without evidence that the drug had shown benefit on younger veterans, according to CTV. The VA, the nation's largest hospital system, also agreed more study was needed on the safety and effectiveness of the drug and suggested its use was now limited to extenuating circumstances, such as last-ditch efforts to save a coronavirus-stricken patient's life. In responses provided to Congress and obtained by The Associated Press, the VA said never encouraged or discouraged its government-run hospitals in any way to use the drug hydroxychloroquine on patients even as President Donald Trump heavily touted it for months without scientific evidence. In the first week of May, 17 patients had received the drug for COVID-19, according to VA data obtained by The Associated Press. VA has not endorsed nor discouraged the use of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients and has left those decisions to providers and their patients, the VA said. The department declined to say how many patients had been treated with hydroxychloroquine for the coronavirus since the start of the virus outbreak in January, but a recent analysis of VA hospital data showed that hundreds of veterans had taken it by early April. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.