Abstract
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The controversy surrounding the use of
hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an antimalarial drug, for
COVID-19 has raised numerous ethical and policy
problems. Since the suggestion that HCQ has potential
for COVID-19, there have been varying responses from
clinicians and healthcare institutions, ranging from
adoption of protocols using HCQ for routine care to the
conduct of randomised controlled trials to an effective
system-wide prohibition on its use for COVID-19.
In this article, we argue that the concept of ’disease
public profile’ has become a prominent, if not the sole,
determinant in decision-making across various healthcare
responses to the pandemic. In the case of COVID-19,
the disease’s public profile is based on clinical and
non-clinical factors that include contagiousness, clinical
presentation and media coverage. In particular, we briefly
examine the dangers of a heightened public profile in
magnifying the inequality of diseases and undermining
three key ethical concepts, namely (1) evidence-based
practice, (2) sustainable allocation and (3) meaningful
consent.