The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the socio-economic fortunes of Jamaica. The number of citizens who are being hospitalised or have died from Covid-19 continues to increase.

The question must be asked, are all available options being utilized?

The Government’s current instruction to the nation as the recommended response to Covid-19 infection is to isolate at home and seek medical care if symptoms worsen.

This approach leads to late commencement of therapy, overcrowding of hospitals, depletion of oxygen and other critical resources, the strain on frontline staff and deferral of other services.

This approach is contrary to the standard universal medical practice of treating early to prevent worse outcomes and in many cases, leads to unnecessary deaths.

Early treatment exists and has been successfully implemented by private doctors in Jamaica and many other countries around the world such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Fiji, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, St. Lucia, USA, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

Spearheaded by several international groups including the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), [https://covid19criticalcare.com/], doctors have developed early treatment protocols which consist of a combination of supplements and repurposed medications, breathing exercises, and oral care with close monitoring of oxygen saturation.

Supplements such as Vitamin D3, Quercetin and Zinc have been studied extensively and are included in the protocols. Repurposed medications include such safe drugs as Fluvoxamine, Nitazoxanide and Ivermectin. The latter is on the World Health Organisation (WHO) list of Essential Medicines, with over 3.7 billion doses issued around the globe for more than 40 years. [https://covid19criticalcare.com/, ivermectin-in-covid-19] .

Ivermectin has been found to “… [offer] more and more promise to help improve global public health by treating a diverse range of diseases, with its unexpected potential as an antibacterial, antiviral and anti-cancer agent being particularly extraordinary.” [https://www.nature.com/articles/ja201711]

Over 31 randomized control trials (RTCs) on the use of Ivermectin demonstrate its safety, efficacy and success in any early intervention to preserve life and health. [c19early.com , https://c19ivermectin.com/, https://ivmmeta.com/]

Section 13 (3) (a) of the Jamaica Charter of Rights and Fundamental Freedoms guarantees to each citizen, the RIGHT TO LIFE. Additionally, Section 13 (1) (c) places on all persons “a responsibility to respect and uphold the rights of others” under the Charter.

In order to decrease morbidity and mortality in the Jamaican population, We, the undersigned urgently call on Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Health Dr. Christopher Tufton to establish the following:

1. Immediate institution of early at-home treatment protocols for COVID-19, and monitoring, as a routine step in the national protocols of managing Covid-19 in Jamaica,

2. Removal of all obstacles to the importation and easy availability of any and all repurposed medications that have a good safety-risk profile and reasonable evidence of benefit,

3. Ensuring that the recommended supplements and repurposed medications are available at affordable prices for all Jamaicans,

4. Removal of all obstacles to the importation of pulse oximeters, oxygen and oxygen converters at prices affordable to all Jamaicans,

5. Preparation of ‘early treatment kits/packets’ with recommended supplements, antibiotics and repurposed medications including Ivermectin for subsidised distribution to the most vulnerable,

6. Undertaking public education campaigns to reduce the prevalence and severity of non-communicable diseases such as obesity and hypertension in order to mitigate the severity of Covid-19,

7. Training of nurse practitioners and doctors to administer early at-home treatment protocols including patient follow-up,

8. Utilisation of public education campaigns and public-private partnerships with private doctors, to immediately assist in relieving the pressure on the public health sector, without having to curtail fundamental human rights to achieve that objective.

THE RIGHT TO LIFE IS THE PRIMARY HUMAN RIGHT.

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