GITEGA September 22nd (ABP) – Self-medication is a huge health hazard in this period of Covid-19, according to the physician director of the Gitega regional hospital, Dr Eric Ndihokubwayo, in an interview with ABP last week.
He said self-medication is rife as Covid-19 shows signs that resemble those of other illnesses.
“In this case patients take medication without consulting the doctor or a health worker believing they have Covid-19 or vice versa when it is not the disease they suspect. These people then take medicines against the coronavirus, tablets or traditional medicines made from eucalyptus or others while they do not suffer from this pathology “. “Or there are people who when they learn that a close friend suffers from coronavirus, also take drugs without being tested because, they think that they have been contaminated when they have not realized the test.
They have noticed cases where patients come here to the hospital and tell us that they were taking coronavirus medication even though the doctor did not prescribe it. ”
“Sometimes after diagnosis it turns out that the patient suffers from another pathology and often he dies or takes time to recover because he is dragged along. ”
It is advisable that the patient presents to the coronavirus screening center to be reassured and to take medication which is, moreover, free, according to him.
If the test proves that it is not a coronavirus, then the patient can be diagnosed with other illnesses, advised Dr. Ndihokubwayo.
He added that drugs cure illnesses, but when misused they can endanger people’s health. There can also be resistance when a person takes a drug without respecting the doses or when they take drugs for a disease that they do not have, when this disease occurs afterwards and they are given the same drugs, there is resistance because, initially, he took them at the wrong time and without a medical prescription.
“Every day, we have a health education session where we expose patients to the danger of self-medication because, we notice that there are patients who arrive for treatment being in serious condition following self-medication or after consulting wizards. During this daily session, we ask patients not to self-medicate not only for Covid-19 but also for other diseases. ”
This is the situation as people interviewed at Gitega revealed that “a lot of people take Covid-19 like the flu and take medicine without consultation or eucalyptus leaves and other traditional medicines. ”
According to them, most do this in order to avoid the long lines seen at Covid-19 testing centers.