15 cases of black fungus in state, Centre to hold discussions today

Ranchi: As many as four people have died of mucormycosis, a rare but fatal disease also commonly known as black fungus, in the state while 15 patients are undergoing treatment for the diseases at different hospitals. While a state-level meeting was conducted over the development on Saturday, the state government will discuss it on Sunday.
Officials of the state health department told TOI that they did not keep a record of the patients infected by black fungus but said they are ready to hold a discussion with the Centre about the disease and its management on Sunday.
Additional chief secretary (health) Arun Kumar Singh, however, stressed that the government is taking the rising cases of the disease seriously and is keeping a close watch on the development.
He said, “We are going to hold a meeting with the Centre on Sunday to discuss the matter. The state will follow the protocols related to identification, treatment and management of mucormycosis as suggested by the Centre.”
Meanwhile, state health minister Banna Gupta held a state-level meeting to review the spread of the infection, on Saturday.
According to sources at Rims, Raj Hospital, Bhagwan Mahavir Medica and a private nursing home owned by Dr Abhishek Kumar Ramadhin, four patients each are being treated for black fungus apart from one at the Bokaro General Hospital. Moreover, Bokaro district has reported two deaths and one suspected case is under observation. Unofficial sources said one patient had died in Dhanbad earlier this week.
ENT specialist and surgeon Dr Ramadhin said till date, one black fungus patient died at Medica whereas two others are in critical condition at Medica and his nursing home. “The only patient who died under my treatment had a heart attack and the cause was not the fungal infection as she was responding well to treatment,” he said.
Ramadhin said the sudden shortage of anti-fungal medicines from the market is also causing a lot of problem during the treatment of such patients. "Just like Remdesivir, commonly used anti-fungal medicines — Amphotericin-B, Liposomal Amphotericin and Fluconazole — have vanished from the market when the cases were first reported," he said.
Commenting on the situation, health minister Banna Gupta said the fungal infection has some link with the widespread use of steroids in the treatment of Covid.
"According to health experts, it is not spreading like Covid virus but is infecting only those with compromised immunity. We will ensure that some effective protocol is in place soon to treat such patients and avoid more cases," he added.