8848 Black Fungus Cases in India; Know who top the List

TNI Bureau:  On Saturday, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda announced the allotment of 23,680 more vials of Amphotericin- B, a critical medicine for treating rampant Mucormycosis or ‘black fungus,’ to states and union territories.

According to the Minister, the distribution was made based on the overall number of patients, which is around 8,848 across the country. According to official reports, there are 2281 cases of mucormycosis in Gujarat and 2000 cases reported from Maharashtra.

Cases are rising rapidly with numbers ranging from 910 in Andhra Pradesh, 720 in Madhya Pradesh, 700 in Rajasthan, 500 in Karnataka, 350 in Telangana, 250 in Haryana, 197 in Delhi, 112 in Uttar Pradesh, 95 in Punjab, and 15 in Odisha which are among few of the states affected.

The Union Health Ministry announced on Friday that five new manufacturers have been granted licenses to produce Amphotericin-B, and that they would begin producing 1,11,000 vials of the medicine every month in July.

NATCO Pharmaceuticals in Hyderabad, Alembic Pharmaceuticals in Vadodara, Gufic Biosciences Ltd in Gujarat, Emcure Pharmaceuticals in Pune, and Lyka in Gujarat are the five firms that were given license.

The Ministry stated that efforts are being undertaken to supplement domestic availability of the antifungal drug through import.

Recently, PM Modi cautioned about the “new challenge of Black Fungus” in a virtual speech to health professionals from Varanasi yesterday. He went on to define the virus as an invisible and shifting enemy.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi highlighted the critical scarcity of Amphotericin-B, a medicine used to treat Mucormycosis, often known as Black Fungus, and urged him to “take prompt action” to address the problem.