Black fungus drug available in Noida, Ghaziabad but supply not enough

Ghaziabad: Although Amphotericin B injections, the drug of choice for treating Mucormycosis or black fungus, are now available locally at the district-level, kin of patients in Ghaziabad say it is still in short supply as they were getting only half of their requirement

Ghaziabad: Although Amphotericin B injections, the drug of choice for treating Mucormycosis or black fungus, are now available locally at the district-level, kin of patients in Ghaziabad say it is still in short supply as they were getting only half of their requirement.

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According to official records of the health department, the Meerut division, which includes Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar districts, has overall 507 cases of black fungus while 50 deaths due to it have taken place till June 13. The data also mentions that 345 patients were discharged, and the number of active cases stood at 112 in Meerut division, as of June 13.

Ghaziabad, as per official records, recorded eight deaths and 43 active cases of black fungus, with a total of 94 cases till June 13. The 43 active cases are getting treatment at five hospitals.

Permission to obtain the drug still rests with the divisional commissioner’s office in Meerut, which can be obtained online. The drug is then to be sourced from the office of the district chief medical officer.

“My brother-in-law comes daily for treatment for black fungus at the black fungus at the Harsh ENT Hospital at the Raj Nagar District Centre. He requires four injections of Amphotericin B per day, but we are getting only two from the office of the Ghaziabad CMO. However, the drug being locally available has eased our woes as earlier, at least one member of the family had to spend the entire day at Meerut to get the injections while one used to accompany the patient,” said Vinod Kumar, from Pilkhuwa, said at the CMO’s office on Monday.

“With drug’s availability at the district level, we are told beforehand when the injections will arrive each day. So, a lot of hassle is reduced. But short availability is still a cause of concern,” he added.

Experts also echoed similar views.

“Generally, patients need four injections each day, but we are getting only two from the district-level officer daily. In such a case, we have now resorted to use of another drug, Posaconazole, which is easily available in the market. At present, we are using both Amphotericin B and Posaconazole in combination and patients have responded positively. Of the 48 patients who have come for black fungus treatment to our hospital, four died due to severity of the infection while only three are presently admitted,” said Dr BP Tyagi, senior ENT specialist at Harsh ENT Hospital.

The district health department said that during the past four days, since the Amphotericin B injections were made available locally, they received 60 doses (distributed among 26 patients) on June 11, 75 each on June 12 (to 32 patients) and 13 (to 34 patients) besides 125 on June 14.

“We are getting regular stock but in limited numbers and are providing an average of two injections per patient, as per availability. We expect that we will be able to get more doses and will be able to provide them sufficient quantities as per requirement,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer of Ghaziabad.

Dr Deepak Ohri, the chief medical officer of GB Nagar, said that they were able to provide more Amphotericin B injections to patients as compared to Ghaziabad.

“We are giving sufficient injections to our patients as per requirement. We are giving three-six injections per day to patients per day. We have 150 injections available with us,” Dr Ohri added.

According to official records, GB Nagar till June 13 had 21 active cases of black fungus besides 11 deaths out of a total of 94 cases reported so far in the district.

The 21 patients are getting treatment at five hospitals in Noida.