Provide free treatment for 'black fungus', Sonia Gandhi writes to PM Modi

In a letter to the prime minister, she also pointed out that the illness is not covered under Ayushman Bharat

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to ensure adequate supply of essential medicines and free care for the treatment of mucormycosis.

Gandhi told the Prime Minister that the black fungus illness is not covered under Ayushman Bharat and most other health insurance plans and sought immediate action on the issue.

“I understand that Liposomal Amphotericin-B is absolutely essential for the treatment of Mucormycosis. However, there are reports of its acute scarcity in the market,” she said in the letter.

Senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said the government has already stepped up imports of the anti-fungal drug and also granted licenses to five domestic pharma companies to step up production.

Recently, the government had asked states to declare mucormycosis an epidemic under the Epidemic Diseases Act.

“This would mean that there must be adequate production and assured supply of essential medicines to treat it, and cost-free patient care for those in need of treatment,” she added.

India has reported several thousands of Covid-19 patients contracting the black fungus infection, which experts blame on excessive use of steroids for treatment of coronavirus.

As black fungus infections assume epidemic proportions, the government has placed orders for import of 3.63 lakh vials of the anti-fungal drug in May 2021 to augment the extremely limited domestic production.

The existing manufacturers of the drug together could produce 1,63,752 vials of the drug in May, which would be further ramped up in June to 2,55,114 vials.

The government will import 3.15 lakh vials in June.

The newly licensed pharma companies will be able to produce 1.11 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B from July