NCDHHS receives 1.5 million hydroxychloroquine tablets for long term care facilities, hospitals

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services confirmed they have received 1.5 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine for long term care facilities and hospitals.

The availability of hydroxychloroquine through NCDHHS was first revealed in a records request made by Channel 9 in Iredell County.

A spokesperson for DHHS said North Carolina received 600,000 tablets donated from Amneal Pharmaceuticals on April 3, 2020, and was sent 900,000 tablets from the Strategic National Stockpile on April 6, 2020.

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The supply from the stockpile is restricted to hospitalized COVID-19 patients and is available to any North Carolina hospital requesting it. The Amneal supply is available to residents in long term care settings by a patient-specific prescription from their provider, according to a spokesperson.

"We will continue to look at research as it comes along to see if there is an appropriate use," NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said at a news conference Friday. "The recent research that has come up is that there is no appropriate setting yet."

A spokesperson for DHHS said the department has not made any recommendations to use or not use hydroxychloroquine related to COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration put out guidance Friday saying the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19 and it has sometimes caused serious heart rhythm problems.

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“The FDA statement today is a reminder to all health care providers of the known cardiac side effects that have been shown with hydroxychloroquine use,” Chris Mackey, spokesperson for NCDHHS said. “These side effects can be present in those taking hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 or one of its FDA approved uses. As with any prescription medication, there are concerns if it is not used and monitored appropriately.”

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, when used on COVID-19 patients, Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris said Friday. Harris said she was not aware of any Mecklenburg County nursing homes using it as a treatment.

In Concord at Five Oaks Rehab, Michael Mayhew said his mother Pamela was administered it before she died due to COVID-19.

"She was just an extremely wonderful person," he said. "She has always been a very loving person, a great mom. I was her only child but she had lots of aunties and cousins and everybody adored her."

Mayhew is requesting her medical records to try to figure out how much of a role, if any, hydroxychloroquine played in her death.

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"I had never heard of it," he said. "It is not like they gave me much of a choice saying yay or nay they just said that is what the protocol is, do it."

State Treasurer Dale Folwell was administered hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 when he was in the hospital and he said it helped improve his oxygen levels.

"I am glad I tried it," he said. "There is a war going on inside of the lungs of people who were in the severe situation that I was in."

Folwell said within 48 hours of taking the pill, his oxygen levels went up. He is now recovering from COVID-19 at home.

“They said this is what they are giving you and that’s what I took,” Folwell said. “I was in their hands and God’s hands and that was OK with me.”

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