As the holy month of Ramadan has begun, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has urged patients who take daily medication and fast to follow their physician’s advice in changing timing and dosage.
Dr Moza Sulaiman Al Hail, Executive Director of Pharmacy at HMC in a virtual interview with media persons also asked the public to contact the corporate pharmacy drug information center 40260747 or 40260760 and 40260759 for answer questions about prescribed medications. The service is staffed by pharmacists and is open Sunday to Thursday, from 7am to 8pm.
According to Dr Al Hail, several studies have shown that patients often change the intake time and dosage of their medication without first seeking medical advice.
“This behaviour could alter the pharmacological properties of a drug and impact the effectiveness of the medication and the patient’s tolerance of the drug,” she said.
She also cautioned that unsupervised changes to medication timings during Ramadan can render a medicine useless and also cause serious health complications.
During Ramadan, all adult Muslims who fast are required to refrain from taking any food, liquids or oral drugs between dawn and sunset. However, those with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney diseases, as well as conditions like epilepsy, require daily medication to effectively manage their condition and prevent complications. If these individuals wish to fast, they are advised to consult their physician or pharmacist before making changes to their medication routine.
“If sick patients do fast, they should do so under the medical supervision of their doctor, pharmacist, or another health professional familiar with their condition and medical history,” said Dr Al Hail.
Most religious scholars and healthcare practitioners agree that administration routes of some medication do not nullify fasting.
“Treatments and Procedures that Do Not Invalidate Fasting according to Resolutions and recommendations of the council of the Islamic Fiqh Academy, 23 — 28 Safar 1418 H (28 June — 3 July 1997) and that include • eye and ear drops, all substances absorbed into the body through the skin, such as creams, ointments, and medicated plasters, injections through the skin, muscle, joints, or veins, with the exception of intravenous feeding, oxygen and anesthetic gases, nitroglycerin tablets placed under the tongue for the treatment of angina, mouthwashes or oral sprays provided nothing swallowed enters the stomach, suppositories/pessaries (rectal/vaginal), nebulizer, enema and asthma inhaler.
