The beds in Government ENT Hospital at Kothi are fast getting filled by Mucormycosis patients. Till Thursday night, 160 out of the 200 beds in the hospital were occupied by patients suffering from the fungal infection also known as Black Fungus. Only 40 beds were left which doctors at the hospital expect to be occupied on Friday.
When asked what would be done to in case all the 200 beds are occupied, the government hospital’s superintendent Dr T Shankar said they will make use of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) building on their premises and set up 40 more beds. Out of the 200 beds, 10 are reserved for non-Mucormycosis ENT cases.
Dr Shankar said that 10 out of the 160 patients got admitted after undergoing surgeries at private hospitals. Availability of Liposomal Amphotericin B at the government hospital is one of the reasons why patients got discharged from private hospitals, and opted admission at the ENT Hospital.
The hospital shot into prominence after the State Health department officials on May 15 declared it as a nodal centre for admitting and treating Black Fungus cases. Patients from various districts, and a few from other States too got admitted at the hospital.
Since the hospital currently does not have CT Scan and MRI facilities, patients who consult the hospital are forced to take diagnosis tests at private labs. Family members of a patient who consulted the ENT Hospital said that their dear ones underwent the tests at a private labs paying huge money.
“Our patient was asked to come back after a few days as the fungal infection was in the initial stage. They underwent CT and MRI scan at a private lab. Besides, we had to buy Posaconazole from outside where it costs around ₹20,000. It becomes difficult for poor patients to spend such huge amounts for the medicine after spending money for COVID-19 treatment,” said the family member.
Sources in the hospital confirmed that Posaconazole was not available at the government hospital.
After senior officials from the State Health department issued a press release on Wednesday stating that an online application system for allotment of Liposomal Amphotericin B, Posaconazole and Isavuconazole was introduced, people asked where can they download the application along with the proforma to fill the details.
The application is uploaded in the https://dme.telangana.gov.in/
Corporate hospitals have started to send applications and some have received approval to procure the medicines from stockists to patients.