Short on time, get drug on war-footing, says HC

New Delhi: Observing that the situation is assuming different proportions by the hour and appropriate steps should be taken on war footing, the Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Central government to explain the status of the imports of black fungus drug — Amphotericin-B from several countries and why despite Centre's figures on imports and production, the drugs were not reaching hospitals and patients who need it.

The directions came after a division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh were hearing Centre's submission on the status of imports of the infection drug and the steps taken by it with regard to it's augmentation, which the government had laid out in a status report.

The court was apprised by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma that 2 lakh vials of Liposomal and Amphotericin B will be imported from 6 countries and around 50,000 tablets will also be imported.

During the hearing, advocate Krishnan Venugopal submitted that the supply of the drug should be augmented keeping in view the short term needs and not the long and medium term. "The only problem is that we are hearing heart breaking stories everyday...we need supplies today for immediate need of patients," the lawyer argued.

In response, Justice Singh remarked that steps to augment the supply should be taken on a war footing as there is a want of time. "Please understand the time factor. Everyday matters are there. By the afternoon this person lost an eye. This should be on a war footing," he stated.

The court was referring to a petitioner suffering from Black Fungus who had lost his eye in hours after sufficient drug doses were not provided by doctors.

When the petitioner had moved the court in the morning, the patient had an eye but by evening he lost it, due to lack of supply of the drug. Advocate Rizwan, for another petitioner, also argued that his client has been denied the requisite vials of the drug by the hospitals and has been told to procure the same on his own.

"Every hour it's assuming a different projection...we have to be very careful. We are all short on time," the court further remarked.

Advocate Singh told the court that steps in that regard are being taken on a war footing and till date, there are 2,000 more non-Covid Mucormycosis cases. "The market was there to tackle that kind of demand. Minimum time of production is around 20-25 days," he argued.

However, Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, on behalf of the Delhi government, drew the court's attention to the demand-supply gap for the drug and raised questions with regard to the Centre's claim of the drug's availability. "14,872 patients are there under treatment. Please calculate this with 9 vials per person," Mehra submitted.

On court's intervention that there was a worldwide shortage of the drug and that steps have been taken, Mehra rebutted: "Whatever is being done is not done. Nine days have gone. God know how many lives are lost. Shouldn't the Union of India show some sensitivity?"

"This is not like oxygen. We have understood it. I'm not for a minute placing the Central government on mat. But can we please move with alacrity and come to a conclusion. Even 2 lakhs is not what we have today. There is a gap of 8 to 9 times," Mehra further argued, adding that the Central government should come back with a response as to whether they have explored globally with regard to import of these drugs.