With less than half the Covid-19 cases as compared to Pune, Nagpur has most black fungus cases in state

PUNE As of Monday, the state state has reported a total of 6384 mucormycosis cases out of which currently 4088 are undergoing treatment, 1732 have been recovered, 523 declared dead and 41 who took leave against medical advice (LAMA)

PUNE As of Monday, the state state has reported a total of 6384 mucormycosis cases out of which currently 4088 are undergoing treatment, 1732 have been recovered, 523 declared dead and 41 who took leave against medical advice (LAMA). Out of the total cases of mucormycosis reported the state, maximum number of cases have been reported from Nagpur which has reported half the number of Covid19 cases reported in Pune which has reported the highest number of infection cases in the state.

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Nagpur has reported 1,132 cases of mucormycosis (black fungus), of which 463 have recovered, 97 have been declared dead and 560 are still undergoing treatment.

However, the district has reported 0.491 million Covid-19 cases, while Pune with 845 mucormycosis cases has reported a total of 1.26 million Covid-19 cases, as of Monday.

The rare, but serious, fungal infection has caused serious trouble for the administration because of its high fatality rate among patients wo have recovered from Covid-19. The state government had declared it a notifiable disease, and announced free treatment schemes for the infection.

The districts with the highest number of black fungus cases are Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nashik and Solapur, in that order.

Dr Ashok Nandapurkar, district civil surgeon, said, “We have about 55 hospitals, including 11 which are MPJAY-affiliated . Since mucormycosis requires multi-specialists, only major hospitals treat patients. As per our report, we have 586 patients under treatment, whereas the state report says there are 699 patients. There may be some difference in the state and district data, since there could be duplication of names and also updating issues.”

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has also started a dedicated ward for mucormycosis at its Dalvi hospital. Dr Kiran Bhise, hospital in-charge, said, “We started the ward this month and we have three patients currently admitted. The first operation will take place tomorrow. The treatment and medicines is completely free at this hospital.”