Have ordered 30K vials of drug to beat black fungus: Punjab to HC

The Punjab government on Friday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it has ordered 30,000 vials of Amphotericin-b, a drug to beat black fungus.

The high court asked Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to deliberate upon any preventive measures, which can be taken against the spread of black fungus and apprise the court on May 25.

Additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain told court that five more companies have been given licence to manufacture the drug. The court was hearing a plea in which it is monitoring Covid-19 situation in two states and UT.

As regards to spread of Covid-19 in rural areas of Punjab and Haryana, Punjab advocate general Atul Nanda told court the emphasis was on providing help in the villages for which health wellness centres have been set up.

Haryana’s advocate general BR Mahajan said that government has decided to continue with already established helpline number by the state in rural areas and not to put out private numbers of doctors as responsibility for attending the calls from a caller cannot be fixed or there is no mechanism to have check for the same.

Punjab raises issue of poor supply of oxygen

After the hearing, Nanda said the court was also urged to issue directions to the Centre to provide logistics support as the state has been able to lift only half the allocated 300 metric tonnes of oxygen as it has to ferry it from Jharkhand and Gujarat.