Maharashtra has a plan in place to tackle black fungus, says Tope

Maharashtra government is tackling the serious issue of black fungus or Mucormycosis with a plan in place as the medicines required are being produced locally and imported as well, said Rajesh Tope, minister of public health and family welfare, Government of Maharashtra, during an event organised by Aami Parivar.

Tope informed the Centre that mucormycosis or black fungus, which has claimed 90 lives in the state so far, is a matter of prime concern for the state at present, and the state government needs more supply of the medicine used in its treatment. He made the statement after a meeting where Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually interacted with district magistrates and field officials on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Seventeen district collectors from Maharashtra attended the meeting. Submitting his demands for the state, Tope said that since the requirement for oxygen and Remdesivir-like medicines has now stabilised due to a drop in Covid-19 cases, mucormycosis is a matter of prime concern for Maharashtra now.

In his media briefing, Tope had said that Maharashtra faces a shortage of Amphotericin-B, a key medicine required to treat mucormycosis patients, and the state needs 1.50 lakh to two lakh vials of that medicine but has received only 16,000 from the Centre. Out of 1,500 patients found so far in the state, some 850 were undergoing treatment in hospitals, while 90 Covid-19 survivors have died of black fungus so far, he had said.

Tope said: “I have informed the Centre that mucormycosis is the prime concern before the state government. I insisted that we need more allocation and supply of Amphotericin-B because the number of cases in the state is higher.”

“As the active Covid-19 cases in the state have declined, the requirement for oxygen and Remdesivir-like medicines has now stabilised,” he said, adding that these were not matters of concern anymore.

During the Aami Parivar event, a question was raised on the adverse impact on immunisation programmes for newborns and children and OPDs as well. The minister admitted that the hospitalisation due to Covid was unprecedented but now it’s being tackled well. They will cover up all vaccination programmes if missed due to pandemic.

Tope also discussed the recent Tautke cyclone impact and the State government arranging a relief package for those who suffered huge damage due to the natural disaster.

Aami Pariwar Global —  which has the vision to help the Maharashtrian community across the globe — currently has 7,000 registered members. Tope addressed several issues raised by the community residing in GCC.

Representatives from UAE/GCC included Sanjay Patil, Vishal Gaikwad (Saudi Arabia), Sushant Saverdekar, Mahesh Aphale (Oman) Neelam Nandedkar (Fujairah), Dr. Pallavi Bartake (Abu Dhabi), Virbhadra Koregaonkar (Ajman), Chandrashekhar Jadhav (Sharjah), Sandeep Kad (Dubai) and Ritesh More (Um Al Quain).

Santosh Karande, founder, Aami Pariwar, said: “Our sole intention is to bridge the concerns of our community to the right official channels. Ever since 2020 we have been actively been coordinating among families in the GCC and India and will continue to do so.”

— With inputs from PTI, sandhya@khaleejtimes.com