Gujarat Govt constitutes taskforce of 11 specialist doctors to decide on black fungus treatment protocol

Written by Sanchari Chattopadhyay Published On 2021-05-27T09:45:00+05:30 | Updated On 27 May 2021 5:48 PM IST

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Government has formed a task force of 11 specialist doctors for maintaining uniformity in the treatment as well single treatment formula of epidemic Mucormycosis in the state. The committee through continuous consultation will decide on the protocol and guidelines of treatment of black fungus.

Confirmation to this effect has been given by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

The special task force consists of 11 recognized expert doctors from the state hospitals and from medical colleges of Dental, ENT, Ophthalmology as well Medicine departments.

The newly formed task force includes Dr Girish Parmar, the additional director and the Dean of Ahmedabad government dental college; Dr Kamlesh Upadhyay, Medicine, BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad; Dr Bela Prajapati, ENT, BJ Medical College; Dr Hansa Thakkar, opthalmologist, M&J Institute of Opthalmology; Dr Ashwin Vasava, Medicine, Surat government Medical college; Dr Anand Chaudhary, ENT, Surat government Medical college; Dr BI Goswami, Medicine, MP Shah, Jamnagar Medical college; Dr Sejal Mistri, ENT, PDU Medical College, Rajkot; Dr Neeti Sheth, opthalmologist, PDU Medical College, Rajkot; Dr Susheel Jha, ENT and Dr Neelesh V Parekh, opthalmologist, both from government medical college, Bhavnagar.

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The central government already took note of the increasing number of patients of black fungus in the state following which the state has declared the newly emerging mucormycosis, mostly known as black fungus, as an epidemic under the Epidemic Act 1897.

The authorities have also arranged separate wards for black fungus-affected patients in all the civil hospitals especially in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar.

According to a recent media report in the Times of India, the State health department has started making arrangements to provide proper treatment to the patients. The health department has received instructions from the Chief Minister to ensure that special attention is given to urban and district level health centres to prevent the spread of the disease in those areas. The state government has taken all the precautions to ensure that ample amounts of injections are available in the state due to which the spread of the disease is under control in the state.

As per the State Health Department, out of all the Mucormycosis cases registered in the state, 81.6% of patients are still receiving treatment in hospitals while 14.3% of patients have recovered and 4.1% of patients have succumbed to the fungus. As far as age groups are concerned, only 0.5% of the patients belong to the age group under 18 years, 28.4% are between 18 and 45 years of age, 46.3% are between 45 and 60 years of age and 24.9% are above 60 years of age. The male ratio of affected victims is 67.1% while those of female is 32.9% which indicates that men have a prevalence of the disease, reports TOI.

In the case of COVID patients being affected by black fungus, only 33.5% of patients needed oxygen during COVID treatment. 49.5% of patients received steroid therapy during treatment of corona while 50.5% of patients did not require steroid therapy. Out of the total reported patients, the percentage of patients affected with diabetes, patients with immunocompromised conditions, and comorbid conditions are respectively 59.00%, 22.1%, and 15.2%, the daily added.

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Source : with inputs

Sanchari Chattopadhyay