Black Fungus declared an epidemic in Bihar

A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities. The collation of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.

The Bihar government on Saturday evening declared Mucormycosis or Black Fungus an epidemic under Section 2 of the Epidemic Disease Act 1897.

A doctor treats a patient infected with Black Fungus at a government hospital on Saturday. (PTI PHOTO.)

Providing this information through a tweet in Hindi, health minister Mangal Pandey said, “Following instructions from chief minister Nitish Kumar, Black Fungus has been made a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Disease Act. Government and private hospitals will have to inform the health department through a civil surgeon. Patients will get free medicine.”

A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be reported to government authorities. The collation of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.

The Centre, a few days ago, had asked states to declare Black Fungus as an epidemic under the Epidemic Disease Act within the pandemic. The state till Friday had reported 117 cases of Black Fungus.

The Bihar government had on May 18 designated the AIIMS-Patna and the IGIMS as centres of excellence for the treatment of Mucormycosis, said Bihar’s additional chief secretary (health) Pratyaya Amrit.

AIIMS has created a separate 20-bed ward for effective treatment of such cases.

Bihar has diverted around 14,000 vials of Liposomal Amphotericin-B injection, a specific drug for the treatment of black fungus, available under the Kala-azar elimination programme. Around 6,000 vials of the injection from this stock were made available to different hospitals.