A committee has been constituted in Telangana to examine requests for a specific anti-fungal medicine called Amphotericin B injection 50 mg used for Black Fungus treatment, and give permission to buy the drug from stockists based on severity of the infection. Besides, an expert panel has evolved a protocol for treatment of Mucormycosis (Black Fungus) to be used at government and private hospitals.
Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy, who made this announcement at a press conference here on Tuesday, said that some hospitals have indiscriminately prescribed the medicines. Multiple instances of distressed attendants chasing possible sources of the medicine were observed in the past few days.
“An expert committee comprising ENT surgeons, opthalmologists and neurophysicians met on Tuesday. They have evolved a treatment protocol. Further treatment at government and private hospitals will be given on basis of that,” Dr Ramesh Reddy said.
How to approach
Details of how one can approach the committee will be released shortly, said sources. However, people continued to be in distress as some of their loved ones were in dire need of the medicine.
There are around 50 cases of Mucormycosis (Black Fungus) at Government ENT Hospital, Koti, and Gandhi Hospital, Musheerabad. Senior Health officials have urged people not to panic and said that additional equipment used in the treatment are being procured.
The DME also spoke about the precautions one needs to take to avoid Black Fungus, the high risk category patients who have to be watchful, and when to consult an ENT specialist. He urged people who have recovered from COVID-19 to wear a mask even as home as Black Fungus spores will be in the air and people with low immunity might get infected. “As the spores enters through nose, wear a mask,” he said at the press conference.
Diabetics and immunocompromised patients have to regularly check their sugar levels. “There will be no problem to immunity if sugar levels are in control. Chances of fungal infections such as this will then come down,” Dr Ramesh Reddy said.
He said that the fungal infection has to be suspected among post-COVID patients who were given steroids if they have pain in sinuses, severe fever and pain in jaws. “There might be other reasons too. But consult the nearest-available ENT surgeon. The tests are simple,” he said.
