Hyderabad: Drug shortage makes black fungus mushroom

Hyderabad: The black fungus cases seem to be increasing steadily in the state. Though prescribed treatment is available for this, the main problem the hospitals and patients are facing is non-availability of the required drugs in adequate quantity leading to black marketing.

The problem is twofold. One supplying agencies from India and abroad were consuming more time to supply medicine and the other side patients have to wait for the nod of the state Director for Medical Education (DME) to get medicine through online.

The officials maintained that the shortage of black fungus medicine is already visible in view of growing number of cases in the state. Officially, till now 500-plus black fungus cases were reported in Telangana.

Out of 200 beds in the government-run ENT Hospital in Kothi, 170 beds were full. Besides, some patients were undergoing treatment at different corporate hospitals in Hyderabad, the medical authorities said, adding that the demand for beds for black fungus patients was increasing day by day.

In view of the demand for beds, ENT Hospital Superintendent Dr Shankar said a separate facility for the treatment of the black fungus patients will be developed at the hospital premises.

As the cases surge, the Medical and Health department has started procuring Liposomal Amphotericin B, Posaconazole and Isavuconazole medicines to be used for the treatment of black fungus victims, top authorities of the TSMIDC (Telangana State Medical Infrastructure Development Corporation) said that the available drug stocks were shifted to the nodal agency - ENT Hospital for distribution and waiting for the arrival of new stocks.

"It will take some time to meet the sudden demand for black fungus medicines which are being manufactured by only a few pharma companies in India. The state will have to depend on other countries to import required stocks in the crisis time. "Posaconazole stocks were already exhausted with the government ," officials said.

Amidst the growing demand for medicines, the mandated rule to apply online to avail the drugs has put the patients in trouble. The patients will have to download the application from the DME website and fill them along with the attachment of all medical documents.

In many cases, it takes at least one-day for patients to get drugs due to non-availability of stocks with the TSMIDC. "The cost of medicine is around Rs 1 lakh in the open market. Poor patients infected by black fungus are the worst-hit," doctors at the ENT Hospital said.