Over 600 black fungus cases now: Jain

New Delhi: Amid a shortage of Amphotericin-B, a drug to treat a rare fungal infection many Covid patients are contracting post-recovery, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said that Delhi had so far reported over 600 cases of the fungal infection known as mucormycosis (commonly dubbed black fungus), of which over 300 came just in the last three days.

The Health Minister said that 200 cases were reported on May 23 alone.

"Both private and government facilities are treating black fungus cases. But, the issue is of injections needed for the patients. Each patient needs about six in a day. We'd received 370 of these yesterday and then about 400. We appeal to the Centre again to augment its supply," he said.

In fact, hospitals here are increasingly reporting cases of mucormycosis, an infection with a mortality rate of over 50 per cent.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, which was the first hospital in the city to report post-Covid mucormycosis last year, said that it had admitted 63 mucormycosis patients on Wednesday alone.

Doctors at AIIMS have also said that they are now getting as many as 15 to 20 mucormycosis patients every day in their casualty wards and at hospitals like Lok Nayak Jai Prakash, some days see more mucormycosis patients get admitted than Covid patients.

Dr Prateek Sharma an ENT surgeon at AIIMS said, "For mucormycosis — 100 per cent of patients need hospitalisation, a more than a month's stay at the hospital (for injections, surgery, etc), and the mortality rate is 50 per cent or (higher if treatment is not started early). So, as Covid patients recover, more and more covid patients who develop mucor are occupying hospital beds."

The Delhi government had earlier designated three of its hospitals for black fungus patients at LNJP, GTB and Rajeev Gandhi hospitals. Given the rise in cases, Jain had said that 15 hospitals across the city had now reported mucormycosis cases.

But as the shortage of the drug needed to treat this infection grows, the Delhi High Court has rapped the Centre for not making enough preparations. It had noted that even if the production capacity in India was doubled, the demand would not be met and directed it to import the drug.

However, Delhi's allocation continues to remain abysmally low compared to the requirement of the drug (over 3,000 vials a day).