Free fungus cure at Govt hospitals, cap at pvt ones

In a significant development, the Maharashtra government on Monday told the Bombay High Court bench at Aurangabad that patients suffering from mucormycosis or black fungus, would be given free treatment at staterun hospitals. The state also told the court that it would cap what private hospitals could charge patients. The high court, while accepting the statement, has ordered private hospitals not to come up with ‘astronomical bills’ for the same.

A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Bhalachandra Debadwar was hearing a suo motu petition pertaining to Covid-19 crisis in the Marathwada region. At an earlier hearing, the bench had taken cognizance of the spurt in mucormycosis cases and the issues related to the disease.

On Monday when the matter was called, the state prosecutor told the bench that it had been decided to include coverage for mucormycosis under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojna (MJPJAY), that provides free treatment to poor people.

“There would be a capping on the expenses for mucormycosis treatment by private hospitals and they will be instructed not to raise astronomical bills,” the prosecutor said while furnishing an eight-page chart reflecting the rates for treatment of black fungus.

The bench was further told that around 130 hospitals have been identified across Maharashtra for treating the disease and that all the medicines for treatment would be made available to the hospitals through civil surgeons of each district.

“The daily use consumption of the required medicines by the hospitals while treating mucormycosis patients will be monitored through the MJPJAY web portal,” the prosecutor submitted. Having perused the papers on record and considering the submissions, the bench said that the state had indeed come up with a specific policy for treating mucormycosis patients free of cost. “Notwithstanding the same, the identified private hospitals would be restrained from raising astronomical bills and the cost of treatment would be monitored by the rates mentioned in the chart,” the bench noted. “We therefore, expect the state government to accord wide publicity to the decision so that the poorest of the poor, the illiterate and semi-literate and persons living in remote and tribal areas would become aware of these facilities,” the bench ordered. This, the bench opined, “would prevent unscrupulous elements (hospitals) from fleecing poor and ignorant people with large bills” which would prevent them from being able to afford the treatment on mucormycosis. “Needless to state the list of hospitals identified for such treatment and through which the medicines would be made available, should also be given wide publicity, so that the patients do not land in the wrong hospital for availing the treatment,” the bench added.

The bench then enquired about the current availability of the requisite medicines and injections needed to treat mucormycosis, for which the state prosecutor sought time to respond. Meanwhile, the Nagpur bench of the HC, led by Justice Sunil Shukre, was informed that in the last 15 days, a total of 43 eyes had been removed and around 26 deaths had been reported. Further,109 new cases had been reported in the last two days. The bench further noted the higher prices of drugs used to treat mucormycosis.

“If this is so, the treatment of this disease may be out of reach of several patients. Besides this, the incidence of mucormycosis has also risen alarmingly. In such a situation, it is necessar y that some steps are taken by the government to bring down the prices of these drugs to affordable levels,” the bench opined.

“We would, therefore, request the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to look into this aspect and issue directives, if possible, for reducing the prices of these drugs to affordable levels,” the bench ordered. The bench further noted the shortage in the supply of mucormycosis drugs and the fact that at present, only 26 companies across the countr y are manufacturing the drug.

“It would be appropriate if the Union government regulates the production and distribution of these drugs across India, so that there will not be shortage of these drugs in the future. We therefore, request the NPPA and the Central Drug Controller to issue the necessar y directions as regards regulation of the production of the drugs, increase of production capacity and distribution of these drugs to different states of India, which would, of course, be in relation to the caseload of each of the states,” the court ordered.