Facing acute shortage of Amphotericin B, the drug used to treat the black fungus infection, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana floated a global tender on Tuesday to procure 15,000 doses of the drug.
As many as 507 cases of mucormycosis, commonly known as black fungus, have so far been reported in the State while at least 14 patients have succumbed to this rare life-threatening infection.
Fifty three new cases of black fungus were reported on Tuesday. Till date, Gurugram district has reported a maximum of 172 cases followed by 107 in Hisar. 57 cases have been reported in Faridabad, 40 in Rohtak, 27 in Sirsa, 21 in Karnal, 20 in Panipat, 15 in Ambala, 12 in Fatehabad, eight each in Bhiwani, Yamunanagar, Sonepat and Rewari, one each in Yamunanagar and Palwal, according to the data of State's Health Department.
With the surge in patients suffering from black fungus over the past two weeks, the State Government has been facing shortage of injection Amphotericin B for their treatment. While the Government had urged the Centre to provide 12,000 doses of Amphotericin B, it is yet to receive the entire supply.
"The State Government has floated a global tender to procure 15,000 doses of Amphotericin B (ampoule or vial). The decision to float global tender was taken as the patients of black fungus are suffering due to shortage of this drug," said a senior official of Haryana Health Department while talking to The Pioneer.
The official said that a total 507 patients undergoing treatment for black fungus are admitted in different hospitals of Haryana. The expert committee has approved injection Amphotericin B for 223 patients (total 446 vials) on Tuesday, he added.
The State Government had last week constituted an expert committee to decide on the distribution of injection Amphotericin-B available in the State to individual patients admitted in public and private hospitals.
As per the global tender floated by the Haryana Medical Services Corporation Limited, the bidders can quote items under any of Indian, British or United States or European Pharmacopoeia. The global manufacturers or their Indian partners or direct importers are eligible to participate in the tender. The bidders or manufacturers should not belong to countries sharing borders with India, it stated.
Notably, black fungus was declared a notified disease on May 15 in the State, making it mandatory for the doctors (Government and private) to report such cases to the concerned chief medical officers. Haryana Government had on May 18 also formed regulations called "The Haryana Epidemic Diseases (Mucormycosis) Regulations, 2021.
The State Government has also prepared 20-bed wards in all the medical colleges in the State to treat black fungus cases.
As per the experts, black fungus can occur any time after Covid-19 infection, either during the hospital stay or several days to a couple of weeks after discharge. The common symptoms of black fungus include nasal blockage or congestion, blackish or bloody nasal discharge, blackish discolouration over the bridge of nose or palate.