An Arkansas doctor accused of prescribing ivermectin to inmates in his state without their consent has been praised by local officials for a “job well done” despite widespread outrage at his actions.

In January, the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Dr Robert Karas, the physician at Arkansas’s Washington county detention center, on behalf of four inmates who said they were given ivermectin to treat Covid-19 as a form of “medical experiment”.

“Plaintiffs ingested incredibly high doses of a drug that credible medical professionals, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all agree is not an effective treatment against Covid-19 and that if given in large doses is dangerous for humans,” the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Karas told the inmates that the prescribed drugs “consisted of mere ‘vitamins’, ‘antibiotics’ and/or ‘steroids.’”

The CDC, as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have put out advisories warning against using ivermectin for Covid-19, though it is a cause celebre for some rightwing figures and anti-vaxxers.

Despite the lawsuit, some prominent local leaders of Washington county have lauded Karas for his Covid treatment efforts.

On Monday, Patrick Deakins, a Washington county justice of the peace, introduced a resolution to a local quorum court’s jail and enforcement committee to praise Karas for his handling of the pandemic in Washington county jail.

“I don’t know the science behind Covid and I’m not so sure anybody does. I’m certainly not a doctor and I’m certainly not a virologist, and none of us on this panel are,” Deakins said.

He went on to add, “I don’t know the value of one treatment or the appropriateness of it is. I don’t know the efficacy of ivermectin and I don’t know the most useful ways to treat any one individual, and those are not the debate of this resolution, I just want what’s best for the health and safety of the county.”

“While over 850 cases of the infection have been recorded in the Washington county detention center, Dr Robert Karas and Karas Correctional Health have effectively treated those cases which have resulted in zero fatalities from the virus,” the resolution said.

According to the document, Karas provided “exceptional medical care” to inmates and that the “Washington County Quorum Court commends Dr Robert Karas and Karas Correctional Health for a job well done despite the unique challenges.”

Despite the resolution getting passed by the committee, other local officials pushed back against Karas.

“If you talk to individuals at our local hospitals that are treating patients after Dr Karas has treated them, they are very ill,” said justice of the peace Eva Madison. “The reality is that he doesn’t know … He can’t possibly know what the side-effects are of the treatment that he has given,” she added.

“How can we tout nobody died when the individuals in this lawsuit claimed health consequences from what he did to them,” Madison said in reference to the inmates. “You can agree or disagree with the lawsuit, Dr Karas, but why in the world would this body endorse a practice that’s being challenged in court?”

In the lawsuit filed by ACLU last month, inmates complained that they suffered from various side-effects after ingesting ivermectin, including vision issues, diarrhea, bloody stools and stomach cramps. The inmates were also subject to payment of fees for medical examinations that they sought after experiencing the side-effects.

Karas, who has had numerous lawsuits filed against him over the years for allegedly providing inadequate and poor medical care to inmates, has filed a motion to dismiss ACLU’s lawsuit against him.