Before introducing of COVID-19 vaccines the management of COVID-19 was mainly performed by repurposing of existing drugs and adopting the traditional practice. Later on vaccine immunization was introduced in addition to repurposing of drugs and traditional practice. The present study aimed to identify the treatment pattern of COVID-19 along with the traditional practices followed in Bangladesh and justify their purposes of use. For this purpose, a randomized cross-sectional prescriptive study was conducted among COVID-19 survivors who received treatment from hospitals or staying at home to collect their prescriptions, other medical records, and interview on to discuss on different aspects of their disease conditions and treatment. The patients’ prescriptions and interview reports were used to identify mostly used classes of drugs, their frequency and other traditional practices followed by the patients suggested by doctors. These prescriptions were then analyzed to establish a treatment pattern followed by the common people of Bangladesh. The data were collected from a total of 184 participants (age between 18 years to 80 years old) of COVID-survivors of both sexes residing in different locations of Dhaka city in Bangladesh during 10 March 2021 to 30 July 2021. Among the 184 participants, 123 were from non-hospitalized and 61 from hospitalized patients. The numbers of male COVID-19 patients were higher than that of female. We found that COVID-19 patients were treated with several classes of medications. The major classes of medicaments used were antiviral drugs (Ivermectin, Remdisivir, Favipiravir), antibiotics (Azithromycin, Doxycycline, Amoxicillin+Clavulanic acid, Cefuroxime, Cefixime, Moxifloxacin, Gemifloxacin, Levofloxacin, Meropenem), anticoagulants (Rivaroxaban, Enoxaparin, Betrixaban), and nutritional supplements (Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin B complex, Zinc, Multivitamin, Daflon, Pancreatin, Calcium+Amino acid). Traditional healing practices were also followed by patients at home including inhalation of water vapor, consumption of spiced tea, physical exercises, and gurgling with hot water with verbal suggestion or without the suggestion of the physicians. The treatment pattern of COVID-19 was mostly symptomatic. Although the treatment pattern and the type of repurposing drugs were mostly followed WHO and country guidelines, the frequent use of antibiotics and corticosteroids were not in compliance with the above guidelines. The COVID-19 treatment pattern practiced in Bangladesh was mostly found to be symptomatic which was aligned with the guidelines of WHO and drug administration of Bangladesh except the use irrational and frequent use of antibiotics and corticosteroids.
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