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Gap between demand, supply of drug to treat black fungus too high, says HC
On Monday, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that the case load of the city has increased sharply, and that currently the city has 475 black fungus infection cases.
The Delhi high court on Monday said the gap between the demand and supply of Amphotericin B, a drug used to treat black fungus, is too wide to bridge, and drastic steps are needed to be taken.
“It appears that the present production and projection of supply and imports may fall short of the requirement to treat black fungus in not only in GNCTD, but across India,” a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said while hearing a petition by a man who urgently needed the medicine.
On Monday, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that the case load of the city has increased sharply, and that currently the city has 475 black fungus infection cases. Mehra said the demand for the injection is seven times more than the supply.
The Centre, on its part, said that it was not being able to supply adequate amount of Amphotericin B to Delhi due to the production shortage. It said that the situation is similar in all the states and they have taken steps to ramp up the production of the drug.
In a status report, the Centre also rejected Delhi’s demand for 100,000 vials saying the demand “cannot be said to reflect the immediate requirement”.
“In any case, allocation is being made only as a temporary measure, to avoid stockpiling by some states which could be tantamount to depriving other states/UTs that are in immediate need of the same. Once the supplies increase, with higher production and more imports, states would be able to avail of higher stocks,” the Centre told the court in the status report.
The Union government said it was rationing the supply with the primary concern to ensure that the most immediate and urgent demands are met first and foremost. It said that several states with different case loads have been writing to seek higher quantities of Amphotericin B to be allocated and in such cases, allotments are being made to them in accordance with the proportion of their reported case load in the entire country.
Mehra, however, said the Delhi government was seeking 100,000 vials till June and not immediately. He also said that vials were separately being given to central facilties, and not to the Delhi government. He said that there were enough supplies at AIIMS but there was nothing for Ganga Ram hospital.
The court noted that the “tussle” between the Centre and the Delhi government was due to the acute shortage of Amphotericin B. The discussion began during the hearing on a plea by a man, who was struggling to get Amphotericin B, and was currently battling for his life in Sir Ganga Ram hospital. The petitioner, through advocate Rohit Sharma, sought directions to the government to immediately provide the medicine to the patient.
Central government’s standing counsel Kirtiman Singh said they have given licenses to five more manufacturers and asked the existing companies to ramp up production. He said that the supply situation was expected to improve with imports of the drug and increase in domestic production.
When Mehra said that 50 other companies could be given the license, Kirtiman Singh remarked: “It is not some jackfruit that can be grown by anyone”.
The court asked the Centre to file a further status report and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.
In his submission to the court, the Centre’s counsel said that between May 11 and 23, a total of 106,290 vials of Amphotericin B were allotted to the states, where the cases of mucormycosis have been reported. He said as on May 21, the total number of cases reported in India was 8,848.
The Centre’s counsel submitted that Delhi was supplied 2,131 vials by two suppliers between May 1 and 8. On May 11, Delhi was allocated 2,150 vials of the drug while on May 19, allocation of 600 vials of additional supply have been made to Delhi government. On May 20, allocation of 430 vials of additional supply has been made and on May 22, an allocation of 670 vials was made, the Centre told the court.
