Problem is supply, not distribution: Jain on antifungal for mucormycosis
State health minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said that the Capital was beset in its fight against the rising black fungus threat by a shortage of the antifungal medicine Amphotericin B, and added that there were no hiccups in its distribution.
“There is a shortage of the medicine across the country; the Centre has taken control of it and it is being allocated as per quota to states. Delhi has been allocated around 2,000 doses,” said Jain in a press briefing.
“Delhi had 197 people with the infection admitted to various hospitals till Wednesday night. Every patient needs several injections each day; if Delhi’s requirement is, say, 4,000 injections, and we are given 1,000 injections, there will be a problem. It is similar to the oxygen situation; when Delhi needed 600 MT of oxygen we were given 300 MT and people said there was a distribution problem.”
The Delhi government has set up a four-member committee that looks at hospitals’ demand for the drug after patient information is submitted and gives a go-ahead for the Directorate General of Health Services to dispatch it. As per submissions in the Delhi high court, every patient needs 42 vials of the injection per week.
Black fungus has been found mostly among people with uncontrolled diabetes, whose immunity is compromised, or
NEW DELHI:
among people who are given excessive steroids or immunitymodulating drugs such as tocilizumab. According to doctors, if left untreated, it could kill up to 80% of those infected. If not detected early, it affects the orbit of the eye and the mouth, resulting in people losing their vision or jaw during debridement — the process of removing dead tissue from an infection or wound.
The country has seen a sharp rise in the number of mucormycosis cases as a complication in patients with Covid-19, forcing people and state governments to scramble for Amphotericin B, the only drug that can treat the fungal infection. In the Capital alone, about 200 patients are admitted in hospitals with the infection. Usually, major hospitals in the city see no more than 10 cases of the infection in a year.
To address shortage of the drug, the Centre on Thursday allowed five more firms to manufacture Amphotericin B, even as the Delhi high court asked it to get medicines from abroad.
To prevent the infection, Jain said, “Please take steroids only on the advice of a doctor. Do not continue taking the medicine even after the doctor has stopped it. In some diabetics, the sugar level shoots up because of steroid use and they have to be prescribed insulin injection. But, they stop taking it once they are home. Please don’t do that. At the moment, controlling diabetes is more important, you will be able to get off the injection in a few days.”