Black fungus injections: 33 hosps notified, Guj govt tells HC

The affidavit said 33 hospitals had been notified, up from the earlier seven, and each of them will have a district level committee of experts to decide on the distribution of the injection to the hospitals treating Mucormycosis patients.The affidavit said the district-level committee for distribution of the Mucormycosis injection will be headed by the medical superintendent of the hospital and will have experts from the departments of medicine, ENT, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and nephrology.

The Gujarat government on Monday told the High Court that it had notified a hospital each in 33 districts to supply Amphotericin-B injections used in the treatment of Mucormycosis or black fungus to government, civic and private hospitals as per requirement.

The state government also told HC that it had received 54,411 vials of the medicine between April 1 and June 13 from the Centre, and out of this, 37,494 had been distributed, while the Gujarat Medical Services Corporation Limited has the remaining 16,917 vials.

In an affidavit filed by Atul Patel, Under Secretary in the state health department, on Monday, the state government said a GR had been issued on June 10 to address concerns expressed by the court with respect to the distribution of Liposomal Amphotericin B injections. The affidavit said 33 hospitals had been notified, up from the earlier seven, and each of them will have a district level committee of experts to decide on the distribution of the injection to the hospitals treating Mucormycosis patients.

The affidavit said the district-level committee for distribution of the Mucormycosis injection will be headed by the medical superintendent of the hospital and will have experts from the departments of medicine, ENT, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and nephrology. A private hospital requiring the injection will have to submit case details of the patient, letter of the treating medical professional, etc, and the injection will be supplied after the matter is examined by the district-level committee, it said.

The details of the usage of the injection will be displayed on the website of the state's health and family welfare department, and the deputy director (medical education) has been appointed as the nodal officer for this, the affidavit said.

The division bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Bhargav D Karia had called the earlier notification on the distribution of the injections as ''vague and defective'' and had directed the government to increase the number of hospitals to cover all 33 districts. The HC will further hear the suo motu PIL, on issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, on Tuesday.

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