Bhubaneswar: An attempt by the state Health department to procure Amphotericin-B injections, touted as the most effective drug for the treatment of mucormycosis (black fungus) directly from the manufacturers, seems to have received a setback.
The department through the Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMSL) had floated a tender to procure Amphotericin-B injections directly from the manufacturers, instead of receiving partial and short consignments of the drug from the Union government.
However, no manufacturer is said to have evinced interest to deal with the state government despite the open tender. Sources in the state Health department said that the selected manufacturers told the Odisha government that it was dealing only with the Union government and not with states due to high demand from the Union government.
The Health department also admitted that the state is struggling with the short supply of the essential drug and that it didn’t get any supplier of the same.
“We had floated a tender for procurement of Amphotericin-B injections and some other drugs used as alternatives for the treatment of mucormycosis. We have not received any response from the manufacturers for giving us Amphotericin-B,” Bijoy Mohapatra, Director, Health Services told Orissa POST.
He also said, “However, another tender for alternative drugs is still open and the technical bids are likely to be completed in next 2-3 days. We will get to know more about the response from the manufacturers of alternative drugs then. For Amphotericin, most manufacturers are dealing with the Union government only and the problem is for all Indian states not only Odisha.”
Mohapatra admitted to the shortage of the drug in the state for treatment of black fungus. The state government has now been getting fragmented supplies of the drug from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers which is dispatching only 50 vials at a time to the state while around 40 vials are required for the treatment of one infected person.
Marred by lack of the life-saving drug, several frantic appeals are now being made on social media from the patients and their relatives wherein help is sought from several celebrities, social workers, ministers and others but mostly in vain. According to the self-admission of the state government, more than 40 patients in the state have been infected with the disease in the past few days while four of them have also succumbed to the infection.
However, the state government has not been attributing such deaths to the fungal infection.
Manish Kumar, OP