‘We are living this hell’: Delhi High Court on Black Fungus drug shortage

We are living this hell Everyone is living this hell Its a situation where we want to help but we are helpless the Delhi High Court lamented on Friday while hearing pleas on the shortage of Black Fungus medicine and the problems being faced by the patientsWhile the Centre placed a report giving the steps taken by it to source the medicine and overcome shortages the high court directed it to give further details on current status of its imports and when the stocks are expectedThe court which was hearing two pleas seeking medicine vials for two patients admitted here for Black Fungus infection expressed helplessness over the situation and said it cannot pass any order that a particular patient should be given preference for treatment while denying it to othersThe issue of shortage of the medicine for treating Black Fungus was raised by advocate Rakesh Malhotra who said the Black Fungus cases affecting Covidaffected people are risingThe court which was informed that steps are being taken by the Centre to procure 230 lakh vials of Liposomal AmphotericinB from six countries asked the government to explain the reason behind choosing this figure as the todays requirement of the medicine is much moreThe Union of India shall place a report giving the detailed current status of the said imports It will be considered on Monday It has to indicate how the figure of 230 lakh vials was arrived at and whether there is a greater availability of the drug which could be imported a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said which heard for six hours the matter relating to various issues arising out of the Covid19 pandemicAlso Read Black Fungus Owing to high costs of treatment poor families stand helplessThe court asked the Centre to come back on May 31 with a definite statement as to what happened to these 230 lakh vials where are they what is the stage when are they coming to India has the order been placed or notWhen one of the Centres advocate said the order for the vials has been placed abroad the bench said We are running against time If you placed the order on May 24 today it should have been hereWe are only expressing out anxiety because of the proportions this thing is assuming Every hour is assuming a new proportion the bench said adding that the effort here is to save lives and every hour mattersAdditional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said as per the information updated on the portal the number of patients under treatment for Mucormycosis Black Fungus in India are 14872 on May 28 9 AM and this includes 423 patients in DelhiOut of the sources that have been presently identified abroad the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MoHFW on May 24 has called upon Ministry of External Affairs MEA to take steps to procure 230000 vials of Liposomal AmphotericinB from Australia Russia Germany Argentina Belgium and ChinaMEA has also been called upon to procure 50000 tablets of Isavuconazole Steps in this regard are being taken by the MEA said the Centres report filed through advocates Amit Mahajan Kirtiman Singh and Nidhi Mohan ParasharThe Centre said domestic production capacity of Amphotericin B Liposomal Injection has progressed as while in April it was 62000 in May it was 140000 and in June it is expected to be 325114It said the main impediment in granting more licences for manufacture of Liposomal Amphotericin B is the shortage of the raw materials and excipients worldwideIt said the MEA has been working on ensuring supplies of key excipients from sources abroad for production of Liposomal Amphotericin B Amphonex in India and added that imports are being made by Mylan Labs from Gilead Inc USA and the government is working to increase the imports and for early deliveryRegarding the medicine supplies made to Delhi the Centre said 400 vials were allocated on May 24 300 vials on May 26 and 1920 vials on May 27It said as per the tentative estimation of joint monitoring committee under the Directorate General of Health Services 20 per cent of the total active Covid19 cases are moderate to severe and may require hospitalisation From these 20 percent of moderate and severe cases 1500 to 11000 cases may develop MucormycosisThe court had earlier said the gap between demand and supply of Amphotericin B was too wide to bridge and drastic steps are required to be takenAccording to the Union Health Ministry people catch Mucormycosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores in the environment It can also develop on the skin after the fungus enters the skin through a cut scrape burn or other type of skin traumaThe disease is being detected among patients who are recovering or have recovered from Covid19 Moreover anyone who is diabetic and whose immune system is not functioning well needs to be on the guard against this the Ministry has saidThis 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 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