The Delhi High Court (HC) on Wednesday asked the Centre to take steps to source the medicine Amphotericin B, used for treating mucormycosis (black fungus) which is primarily affecting people who have recovered from Covid-19, from wherever it is available in the world. The HC said the Centre should inform it about the steps taken to import the medicine, the shortfall of which was coming in the way of the treatment of mucormycosis, which has been on the rise in the national Capital and elsewhere in the country.
“You have to get the medicine from wherever in the world. You have to take the steps right now. Wherever it is available in the world get it,” said a Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh which was assured by the Centre that it had already started taking steps to import the medicine.
When the HC noted that the domestic production of the medicine was far less than what was required in India, the Centre informed the court that the manufacturing capacity of some of the drug’s producers had been doubled. It, however, said, “Looking at the shortfall in the supply, we are afraid that mere doubling of production will not suffice. It is not clear by when the augmented production will come in actual production.”
The Bench said, “The Centre may place on record the steps taken to import the medicine to augment supplies within the country.” The Bench said there were two things at a premium here, that is, time and human lives.
“You need to import this to bridge the gap between your plan to enhance the capacity and completing manufacture before we lose more precious lives. So act fast on this,” it said and asked the Central Government to file a status report on the present production capacity of the medicine, details of the producers licenced to make it, and by when it would be manufactured with the increased capacity.
The court, which was told that Delhi had over 200 cases of black fungus, also asked the Centre to inform it about the present case load and expected load in two weeks. The Centre has to file its report within three days. The issue of shortage of the medicine for treating black fungus was raised by advocate Rakesh Malhotra who said these cases are rising.