Allocate one-fourth of mucormycosis drugs to Maharashtra: HC to Centre

The Bombay high court (HC) has suggested that the Central government should allocate one-fourth of the Amphotericin B injections available with it, from time to time to Maharashtra, given the spike in the number of active black fungus cases

The Bombay high court (HC) has suggested that the Central government should allocate one-fourth of the Amphotericin B injections available with it, from time to time to Maharashtra, given the spike in the number of active black fungus cases.

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The suggestion was made after the court was informed that though the in-house manufacturing at Haffkine Institute in Mumbai would yield about 40,000 vials by June 10, the injection was insufficient to treat 6,200 active cases. The state held that as each patient required four-five injections per day for a period of three-four weeks, the court should direct the Centre to meet its demands for allocation of more injections, in light of a higher number of cases in Maharashtra compared to other states. The bench also sought details of the state-wise distribution of injections from Centre.

A division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing the public interest litigation filed by advocate Sneha Marjadi and others, was informed by the state through advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni that situation concerning procurement and distribution of oxygen and Remdesivir was taken care of, and the focus of the state was now on combatting mucormycosis.

He said that while in the previous hearing it had submitted data of around 4,000 active cases, the same had gone up to beyond 6,000, hence the state was trying to procure more Amphotericin B injections.

Advocates Rajesh Inamdar and Atharva Dandekar for the petitioners informed the bench that there was an alarming rise in the number of cases and sufficient steps needed to be taken to inform the masses of the precautionary measures and treatment just like it was done for treating Covid-19.

Additional solicitor-general Anil Singh informed the bench that while the centre was cognizant of the situation in Maharashtra it was trying to allocate injections as per the state-wise requirement. He added that the Centre would have around 2.7 lakh vials to distribute as it had allowed private manufacturers to start producing the injection. He said that the states with maximum cases were being allocated the larger chunk of the injections available with it.

The bench suggested that as the number of cases was increasing in Maharashtra, the Centre should allocate one-fourth of the injections available with it from time to time. Bench also directed the state to create awareness of the precautionary measures, treatment regime and hospitals among masses and posted a hearing of the PIL on Thursday, June 10.