Distressed family members of several patients suffering from Mucormycosis or Black Fungus have been running around medical stores and posting SOS calls on Twitter, requesting help with finding 100 or more vials of Liposomal Amphotericin-B. Now, Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy has said that alternative but equally effective medicines must be prescribed to counter the short supply of Liposomal Amphotericin-B. He added that drug companies will take 15 to 20 days to ramp up production.
Prescribing Posaconazole as an alternative, he said, would bring down the anxiety and distress among patients’ attendants who are knocking on all doors to get 100 or more vials of Liposomal Amphotericin-B. Posaconazole is being used in other States too, he explained.
While the anti-fungal medicine is available at government hospitals, attendants of patients admitted to private hospitals have to get it by submitting online applications. Those are then scrutinised by a committee comprising the DME and government hospitals doctors. Though many applications were approved, most of them were given only 5-6 vials of Amphotericin-B while their requirement was 60 or more vials.
No.5 in India
According to a tweet by Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday, 744 patients in Telangana were undergoing treatment as on May 25. This is the fifth highest number of cases among all States. Around 1,889 vials of Amphotericin-B were allotted to the State on Tuesday.
Dr Reddy said that while there have received 300 to 400 applications, only a few hundreds of vials of the anti-fungal injection are issued to the State. “Practically, there is no chance to give 120-150-200 vials to everyone. So, use available drugs which are equally effective and available rather than stopping treatment,” the DME said adding that alternatives like Posaconazole injections and tablets are equally effective which are being used in neighbouring States too.
Post-COVID care
To check if people are developing any health complications such as Mucormycosis after recovering from COVID, the Health department would start Post-COVID Out-Patient clinics at government teaching and other hospitals in a few days.
He said that patients who have recovered from severe form of COVID might have long-term complications such as lung fibrosis apart from fungal and bacterial infections. These complications have to be evaluated on time by following up on patients after recovery.
Besides, a separate OP is opened at Government ENT Hospital to evaluate people who suspect they have Mucormycosis. Endoscopy and other tests would be conducted. If someone has mild form of the fungal infection, they would be asked to consult again after two to three days.
