MP: Indore hospital sees 49 black fungus deaths in 40 days

The state-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital (MYH) in Indore in Madhya Pradesh has seen 49 deaths due to Mucormycosis or black fungus infection in the past 40 days, a senior official from the facility said on Tuesday.

The hospital, attached to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, had 614 black fungus patients, of which 283 have been discharged and 49 have died, most having been brought to the hospital from different parts of the state in the late stage, Dean Dr Sanjay Dixit told PTI.

While the mortality rate from the rare and dangerous fungal infection stands at 8 per cent in the MYH, Dean Dixit said this rate in hospitals in other parts of the country was in the 40-50 per cent range.

"We have performed 580 surgeries in the last 40 days. Currently, there are 282 black fungus patients in MYH. Four of them have COVID-19 as well, while 241 got the ailment after recovering from COVID-19. There are 37 black fungus patients who have no record of COVID-19. However, we believe they may have had the coronavirus infection but it may have been totally asymptomatic," Dixit informed.

The first black fungus patient was admitted in this hospital on May 13, MYH Superintendent Pramendra Thakur said.