The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has said it was not aware of any protocol devised by the Central and/or the State government to combat Mucormycosis, commonly known as the ‘Black Fungus’ disease, and wanted the State to apprise the court on the issue.
This month has seen an increase in the number of cases of Mucormycosis. It is seen in either those infected with COVID-19 or those who have recovered from it.
In an order passed on May 17, the division bench of Justices SB Shukre and Avinash Gharote said, “The court does not know which drugs are expected to be the part of the standard treatment to be given to the patients having ‘Black Fungus’ disease. We shall be benefited if the State government apprises this court on the issue.”
Shortage of drug
The court said this after it was told by advocate A Anilkumar, for one of the applicants, that there was a shortage of drug ‘Amphotericin’, which is used for treating patients with Mucormycosis. He also urged the court to pass a direction to the authorities to make this drug available.
It has been a month since the bench has been hearing a bunch of petitions and public interest litigation petitions on the supply and demand of medicines, oxygen, funds and management by the authorities to handle the pandemic.
The court was informed that the total costs for setting up oxygen plants came to almost ₹ 15 crore and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund available was also amounting to little over ₹15 crore. The court, therefore, granted approval for these proposals. It said work orders should be issued to the companies.
As per the order, the court has directed the State to inform the companies that would be making their contributions under the CSR to do so under activities related to promotion of health care, including preventive health care and sanitation and disaster management, in accordance with the circular issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The order read that it was expected from private institutions to make their own contributions for setting up oxygen generation plants. However, no response had been received from them.
The court also directed those institutions to submit details about their ability to set up oxygen plants at their costs at the respective hospitals.
It also wanted a chart with names of companies, funds available under the CSR head and the proposal of the company for spending the CSR funds.