330 black fungus patients undergoing treatment in Indore hospitals

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 24 : As many as 330 patients infected with Mucormycosis or black fungus are undergoing treatment in Indore, informed Madhya Pradesh Minister Tulsi Silawat on Monday.
The cases in Indore are not only from the city but also from the nearby districts as well, Silawat said after a meeting with Member of Parliament Shankar Lalwani and doctors of the health department regarding the pandemic situation in Indore.
"Currently, 330 black fungus patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals across Indore. Several cases in Indore are from nearby cities," he said.
He added that a post-COVID care centre would be started where people, who have recovered from COVID-19, will be tested for black fungus. All tests will conducted free of cost.
Regarding the availability of Amphotericin-B, the injection used to treat the deadly infection, he said the city was facing a shortage.
"The shortage of Amphotericin-B injection used in the treatment of black fungus will soon be taken care of," he said.
Meanwhile, hospitals in Bhopal have also run out of injections.
Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang, while speaking to ANI on Sunday, said the state was facing a shortage.
"There is definitely a shortage of Amphotericin B, medicine for black fungus, in the whole country, but we are treating people by rationalizing the way we supply the drug at different levels every day. Experts have also found an alternative to this, which is being done through oral medicine," he had said.
Madhya Pradesh is among several states, including Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, that have declared black fungus as an epidemic disease under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897.