On Thursday, May 27, the Maharashtra government in its statement to the Bombay High Court mentioned that so far there are 3,200 active cases of Mucormycosis, also known as Black Fungus, in the state.
While, as per the data available on May 26, Mumbai has recorded 335 cases of mucormycosis so far, the state informed a bench of Justices Amjad Sayyad and G S Kulkarni.
These statements were made as the bench was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs), seeking proper management of issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, the advocate general for Maharashtra, Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, informed the bench, the Black Fungus is more severe than coronavirus. If a person doesn't get the medicine in time he/she would be left handicap life-long.
Kumbhakoni and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) advocate, senior counsel Anil Sakhre, told the court that they were keeping records and maintaining data of such cases.
He went to say that there was “shortage” of Amphotericin-B, the drug to treat black fungus, as the manufacturing of the drug was low and that it takes 20 days for the injection to be prepared.
As against Maharashtra's requirement of 14,000 vials per day, it was receiving only 4,000 to 5,000 doses each day.
Besides, the bench was also informed that the distribution protocol was similar to Remdesivir and was controlled by the central government.
In reply, the bench ordered the state and Union government to take proper steps for providing Amphotericin-B, the drug used to treat the infection, it also ordered the union government to spell out if there was any protocol to administer steroids, which is considered to be the cause of the infection.
On May 11, the Centre allocated 16,500 vials of the key drug on mucormycosis (a disease also known as `black fungus'') to the state, but later it tapered off, the HC noted. By May 24, daily supply had fallen to 4,360, 5,090 and 4,060, it further added.
To this, The Union government's counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, told the HC that the Centre had issued a detailed advisory on prevention, and dos and don'ts for mucormycosis. An expert task force is working on this. The states most affected by the black fungus are Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. The supply of injections to these states will be increased by mid-June, Singh explained.
The bench also sought to know if there was an alternate drug for treating Black Fungus. ASG Singh said he will take instructions on this and inform the judges in the next hearing on June 2.
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