Fighting COVID-19: Asthma Inhaler Could Be A Game-Changer

At a time when a severe crisis of medical oxygen has hit several hospitals in the country and left Delhi gasping to save COVID-hit patients, there seems to be some hope in the form of medical inhalers.

It has emerged that inhaling Budesonide could be an effective way to treat patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus infection.

According to a study, conducted by Oxford University researchers and published in The Lancet journal, Budesonide inhaler — a steroid used to treat asthma — can help in reducing need for hospitalization of mild COVID-positive patients by 91 per cent.

The inhaler also cuts down on recovery time taken by COVID patients, reported timesnownews.com.

Maharashtra is likely to add Budesonide inhaler to the list of medicines for treatment of COVID-19 patients soon, informed Dr Rahul Pandit, a member of Maharashtra’s COVID-19 task force.

“The decision will be taken on the usage of asthma inhalers soon, and implementing it won’t be much of a problem since this can be given to mild and moderate patients who don’t need hospitalization,” said Dr Pandit, who also happens to be director of critical care at Fortis Hospitals, Mumbai.

Using asthma inhalers could be a game-changer as it will significantly reduce the burden on medical infrastructure.