Mumbai: As cases of mucormycosis are increasing in Maharashtra, state health minister Rajesh Tope said that the Centre must allot Amphotericin B injections to Maharashtra at the earliest. Looking at the increasing cases, the state Covid task force has prepared guidelines for the treatment of such cases in the state. Tope said that the guidelines will soon be issued and the department will also hold training programmes across districts.“Maharashtra has several cases [of mucormycosis]. Depending on the severity of the case, a patient needs anywhere between 60 to 100 injections during the treatment. The task force has prepared a detailed guideline for the treatment of mucormycosis. It will be issued soon and the state will be holding training programmes for districts as well,” Tope said.

The minister said that rising cases of mucormycosis is a “real concern” for the state government and have therefore pressed for the Centre’s approval to get the injections needed for the treatment of mucormycosis, which is also referred to as Black Fungus, colloquially. So far, Maharashtra has about 1,500 cases and have reported around 90 fatalities due to it.

The state, according to Tope, has placed orders for over 200,000 injections but the manufacturers need permission from the Centre to supply them to the State. “The real concern for us now is mucormycosis and our stress remains that Centre must allot Amphotericin B injections. We have given purchase orders for 200,000 injections to various companies that manufacturer these injections, but the Centre is not allocating the quota and till then these companies cannot deliver these orders,” he said. The minister said that another challenge for the pharma companies is the availability of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) or raw material to manufacture the drug, which has to be imported from Germany. “The Centre must overcome these issues and make Amphotericin B injections available to Maharashtra under any circumstances,” Tope said.