Black-marketing of black fungus drug goes unchecked
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, June 5
Amid an acute shortage of Amphotericin-B, the drug required to treat mucormycosis (black fungus), patients, their kin as well as administrators of medical institutes are a harried lot.
The black-marketing of the drug continues as the state authorities have failed to supply the required number of doses. The injections are also not available at private medical stores.
Kin of patients have been forced to arrange the injections from other states.
As many as 168 patients are admitted at Rohtak-PGIMS while many others are under treatment at local private hospitals. Some have shifted to hospitals in Delhi-NCR.
“The attendants of the patients are running from pillar to post to arrange the injections as those being received in government supply are not sufficient for the admitted patients. We also feel helpless as there is little we can do in this regard,” says a consultant doctor at the PGIMS.
On the other hand, the PGIMS authorities maintain that the number of injections required by the admitted patients is being sent to the state authorities on a regular basis and the injections are given to the patients as soon as these are received.
39 patients in Faridabad
- As many as 39 patients are undergoing treatment for black fungus (mucormycosis) in government and private hospitals of Faridabad district.
- So far, the district has confirmed 95 cases, including eights deaths. A total of 35 patients have recovered. The reports of nine patients are awaited.
- Officials said the deaths were reported between May 19 and May 31.
- Currently, 20 patients are admitted at the ESIC hospital while eight are under treatment at the Asian hospital and six at the Sarvodya hospital.
- Dr Ram Bhagat, Deputy Civil Surgeon and nodal officer for Covid, said there was no shortage of Amphotericin B.
- The injection was also been provided to private hospitals. In neighboring Palwal, only one death due to black fungus has been reported so far.
