Mucormycosis prime concern for Maharashtra, need more medicines: Tope tells PM

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that mucormycosis or black fungus which has claimed 90 lives in the state so far is a matter of prime concern for it at present and the state government needs more supply of the medicine used in its treatmentHe made the statement at a meeting held by the prime minister during which the latter interacted with 17 district collectors of Maharashtra Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan also attended the meetingTalking to reporters after the meeting Tope said the Maharashtra government has framed a set of guidelines for the doctors in the state involved in the treatment of mucormycosis patients and it would also hold training sessions in all districts for themAlso Read Shortage of mucormycosis medicine in Maharashtra Rajesh TopeSubmitting his demands for Maharashtra during the meeting the minister said that since the requirement for oxygen and Remdesivir or other such medicines has now stabilised due to the decline in Covid19 cases mucormycosis is a matter of prime concern for the state right nowI have informed the Centre that mucormycosis is the prime concern before the state government I insisted that we need more allocation and supply of AmphotericinB a key medicine required to treat mucormycosis patients as the number of cases in the state is higherAs the number of active COVID19 cases in the state has declined the requirement for oxygen and Remdesivirlike medicines has now stabilised he said adding that these were not matters of concern anymoreOn Wednesday Tope had said that Maharashtra faces a shortage of AmphotericinB medicine and the state has received only 16000 vials of it from the Centre as against the requirement of 15 to 2 lakh vialsOf the 1500 mucormycosis patients found in the state so far around 850 are undergoing treatment in hospitals while 90 Covid19 survivors have died of black fungus till now he had saidThe Maharashtra government has now prepared a set of 13page detailed guidelines for doctors in the state about mucormycosis its treatment and precautions to be taken while treating such patients Tope said after Thursdays meetingThe state government is going to conduct a training programme in all the districts for the doctors who would be treating such patients he addedAccording to him the state is also deploying PSA plants in all the 36 districts to increase the availability of oxygen for Covid19 patientsOn the vaccination drive Tope said the Centre should come up with an integrated policy on vaccines their procurement and distributionThe Centre should inform us which vaccine is suitable here and grant approvals required for buying vaccine doses from international market he addedThe state governments priority in Covid19 vaccination programme is completing the process of giving second doses he saidOnce we are through with it other age groups will be considered for vaccination he saidThe health minister admitted that some students who wish to travel abroad for further studies have been affected as the state has currently stopped the process to vaccinate people from the age group of 18 to 44 yearsOnce the vaccine supply increases we will be able to vaccinate 810 lakh people on a daily basis But for the time being people will have to wait for the supply of vials he saidWhen asked about the instructions given by the central authorities Tope said The union health secretary has stressed on testing across the state With the increase in the number of tests the positivity rate can be brought downThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever