Maharashtra to get 60k vials of black fungus medicine

Till date, 2,245 people were found infected with the disease. Of them, 120 succumbed and 213 patients recovered and were discharged from the hospitals.

State health minister Rajesh Tope on Tuesday notified mucormycosis under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The state is also ready to import 60,000 vials of Amphotericin-B, a drug found effective for the treatment of mucormycosis, also called black fungus. The procurement will be made by June 1.

An eye doctor checks Covid patients for Mucormycosis or Black Fungus symptoms at NMMC Hospital, Vashi in Navi Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO)

Till date, 2,245 people were found infected with the disease. Of them, 120 succumbed and 213 patients recovered and were discharged from the hospitals.

Rajesh Tope, state health minister, while speaking to the reporters after attending a review meeting on mucormycosis and Covid-19 situation in the state, said, “We have notified mucormycosis as a disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which means that the state will have to inform the Centre about each case that comes up in the state.”

“The state has floated a global tender for procuring Amphotericin-B injections for the treatment of mucormycosis. We have received a response from a firm. We would get 60,000 vials of the medicine by June 1. It will be an additional supply apart from the current allocation of the medicine by the Centre,” he added.