Private doctors in Hong Kong allowed to order more Covid-19 oral drugs from government to help tackle surge in cases
- Family doctors had warned they were running out of oral antivirals Paxlovid and molnupiravir as cases climbed in the past two weeks
- Doctors can now request 10 standard courses of each drug per order, up from six
General practitioners had warned they were running out of the oral antivirals Paxlovid and molnupiravir for Covid-19 patients as cases climbed over the past two weeks.
A spokesman for the administration on Monday night said that after reviewing the stock of government-procured Covid-19 oral treatments, it would relax the number of courses private doctors could request through the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHRSS) platform each time to better address the recent situation.
The number of standard courses of each drug that could be requested per order was increased to 10 from six with immediate effect.
The Department of Health also issued a letter notifying private doctors of the arrangement and reminding them the oral drugs requested could only be prescribed to “eligible persons” who were infected.