Prioritise youth for black fungus drug: HC to Centre

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court Tuesday asked the central government to prioritise younger people over older ones to be given Amphotericin-B, a last-line drug used to treat mucormycosis that is in acute shortage across the country due to an unprecedented spike in cases. The court said that the young are the “future of the country” and need to be saved, while the elderly have “lived their life”, and that the government should learn from foreign countries such as Italy that adopted a similar policy to treat the Covid-19 when cases were spiraling.

“You have to make a policy decision because everyone can’t be catered to. We need to protect our future, the youth. That is where our promise is. That is the age group which is going to build the country... It is not an area where God will be able to help us if we don’t help ourselves because facts and figures are all before us,” said a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh. Mucormycosis is a secondary infection being reported in increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients. Of the 848 cases recorded in the second wave of Covid-19, 41 have recovered while 59 have succumbed to it. The remaining are still in hospital. Treatment has been hobbled by the scarcity of the only drug that helps. The bench said: “The administration of the drug to the patients who have better chances of survival may have to be prioritised. Similarly, the patients who are younger ..., may have to be prioritised.”

The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the central government to prioritise younger people over older ones to be given Amphotericin-B, a last-line drug used to treat mucormycosis that is in acute shortage across the country due to an unprecedented spike in Covid-19 cases.

The court said that the young are the “future of the country” and need to be saved, while the elderly have “lived their life”, and that the government should learn from foreign countries such as Italy that adopted a similar policy to treat the coronavirus disease when cases were spiraling.

“You have to make a policy decision because everyone can’t be catered to. We need to protect our future, the youth. That is where our promise is. That is the age group which is going to build the country... It is not an area where God will be able to help us if we don’t help ourselves because facts and figures are all before us,” said a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh.

Mucormycosis is a secondary infection being reported in increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients. Of the 848 cases recorded in the second wave, 41 have recovered while 59 have succumbed to it. The remaining are still in hospital. Treatment has been hobbled by the scarcity of the only drug that helps.

The bench noted that supply of Aphotericin-B was about a third of the requirement, and said: “The administration of the drug to the patients who have better chances of survival may have to be prioritised. Similarly, the patients who are younger and who hold promise for our nation in the future, may have to be prioritised in comparison to the older generation which has lived its life and on whom others will not be as dependent.”

At the same time, however, the bench clarified that it was not for a moment discounting the emotional and psychological support that the older generation provides to the families, particularly Indian families that are so closely bonded. But, it added, that difficult choices will have to be made in difficult times.

“We therefore direct the Union of India to frame a policy with regard to distribution of Amphotericin-B among the patients, and once the policy is made, allocation should be made on the basis of that policy,” said the bench. Citing an example of other countries, the court remarked: “Why are you feeling shy? It is the duty of the government to lay down the way forward...In Italy, they said `Sorry for old people we don’t have beds’.. and rightly so.”

It, however, said that while carving out such a policy, exceptions should be made for older people who are serving the nation in high positions.

The court asked the Centre to file its status report on Friday.

Central government standing counsels Amit Mahajan and Kirtiman Singh told the court that the issue was being considered by the government, and a decision would be taken.