<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>“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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Recently, the government had asked states to declare mucormycosis an epidemic under the Epidemic Diseases Act.</p>.<p>“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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>The government will import 3.15 lakh vials in June.</p>.<p>The newly licensed pharma companies will be able to produce 1.11 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B from July</p>
<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>“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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Recently, the government had asked states to declare mucormycosis an epidemic under the Epidemic Diseases Act.</p>.<p>“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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>The government will import 3.15 lakh vials in June.</p>.<p>The newly licensed pharma companies will be able to produce 1.11 lakh vials of Amphotericin-B from July</p>
