TODAY
17o Cloudy
14o 14o 15o 18o SAT
SUN
MON
TUE
www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Phone (03) 5723 0100
FRIDAY, May 5, 2023
Weekend Edition $1.80 INC. GST
Ready to ring in a new monarch
A WALK IN THE PARK FOR 300TH MILESTONE CANCER survivor Doug Kneen and daughter Tammy Genn will help mark a major milestone in Wangaratta tomorrow. Doug is one of the volunteers who helps run the Wangaratta Parkrun each Saturday morning from Apex Park. The free 5km event will celebrate its 300th staging tomorrow, with Doug looking forward to walking the distance with Tammy and her dogs. Full story page 4 PHOTO: Chloe Jaenicke
Page 2 Edition 1
Education & Career Development
Apprenticeships
for males and females
New rural doctors ¨ěěåľÊʇåûʇ ¨ûݨě¨ŕ¨
Mentors to help young job seekers
Feature
Magpies face a big challenge xxx SPORT
GP wins COVID bid
A MEDICATION that a local GP says is proven to prevent and treat COVID-19 overseas, will become available in Australia again after he successfully appealed to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to have it reinstated. Wangaratta GP Dr Julian Fidge made a submission last year to the TGA to have ivermectin deleted from the Poisons Standard. After two rounds of public consultation and 24 submissions, the TGA
cheap, especially TGA decides to allow p prescription p of ivermectin again g compared to the current
BY STEVE KELLY skelly@ nemedia.com.au
has this week made an amendment to allow GPs to prescribe the medication from June 1. The restrictions were originally implemented in September 2021 due to concerns regarding the significant increase
in off-label prescribing of ivermectin for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and the risk of shortages of ivermectin for its approved indications. In his application that instigated the review, Dr Fidge claimed that the effective banning of ivermectin posed a serious threat to public safety as it “may prevent more than 85 per cent of COVID-19 infections and may prevent
serious illness and death caused by COVID-19 infections”. With ivermectin unable to be prescribed by GPs, Dr Fidge said it forces patients to access the drug on the black market or use veterinarian ivermectin. He said it prevented the safe prescribing of the medication by doctors and safe dispensing by pharmacists. “There was never any
evidence that specialist general practitioners have been prescribing ivermectin unsafely, or that the prescribing by general practitioners was undesirable,” Dr Fidge said. “The use of ivermectin by Australians will be safer if the listing is deleted, because doctors and pharmacists can then be involved in the use of ivermectin by patients. “Ivermectin is extremely
vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. “It would remain cheap and accessible for vulnerable patients if the listing is removed.” Dr Fidge said patients will still be protected by the Australian Scheduling Policy Framework (SPF) and other medical and pharmaceutical safety regulations if the listing is deleted. ■ Continued page 3
OPEN 7-DAYS 23 Baker St, Wangarattta Phone: 03 5722 2663
garrynash.com.au