The health authorities in Bangladesh claim they are trying to ensure that the drugs for treating patients with black fungus infection are readily available should the need arise.
Prof Nazmul Islam, spokesperson for the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), during a health bulletin on Wednesday said that very few people had the disease.
“Its treatment was not unknown, but it was definitely expensive,” he added.
Black fungus, also known as mucormycosis, is normally a rare infection that has a mortality rate of 50%.
India reported nearly 12,000 black fungus cases till Wednesday, according to media. It has been struggling to manage enough medicine since early May following the emergence of the infection.
Stating that the DGHS had been working on the issue for the last couple of days, the public health expert added: “The clinical management committee of the DGHS has been working so as to adopt a guideline as soon as possible.”
Also read - Panic spreads over black fungus
The DGHS would give specific proposals soon as the medicine to treat black fungus was not easily accessible, Prof Nazmul said. They were working to ensure that no one could take advantage of the situation.
“We are looking for a way to make it easily available at a lower price for the patients,” the official said.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday said that the authorities had already asked the pharmaceutical companies to produce the medicine so that the shortage could not interrupt treatment procedures.
"We have been made aware of one or two cases of black fungus. There is no need to panic," he said.
Prof Nazmul Islam instructed everyone to remain cautious and contact the nearest state-owned healthcare facilities if a recovered Covid-19 patient developed any new health issues.
He also urged all not to take steroids without a doctor’s prescription.
Meanwhile, a patient diagnosed with black fungus has reportedly died while undergoing treatment in Dhaka.
The sample of the patient, who had died four days ago, was sent for further testing and came back positive for black fungus on Monday, Shariful Alam Jilani, Birdem’s head of microbiology, told Dhaka Tribune.
The 65-year-old man tested positive for Covid-19 a month ago, said Prof M Delwar Hossain, head of respiratory medicine of the hospital. "He was admitted to the hospital for post-Covid-19 complications. He had diabetes as well,” he said.
