Over 500 black fungus cases in Delhi, hospitals short of drugs to fight the infection: CM Kejriwal

Amid the second wave of the Covid pandemic, Delhi isn't just battling a shortage of vaccines, it is also grappling with a scarcity of drugs required to treat patients infected with the black fungus infection, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday.

In the last few days, cases of black fungus have been diagnosed in large numbers and as of today more than 500 patients are being treated in over a dozen hospitals in the national capital.

Kejriwal said that several government-run hospitals dedicated to Covid care are grappling with shortage of medicines for patients. These include Guru Teg Bahadur, Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash and Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty hospital.

Kejriwal said the Delhi government did not receive medicines for black fungus on Sunday, even as the number of cases crossed 500. "We did not receive the medicine yesterday. So how can we treat the patients without the medicine? The injection is administered four to five times a day. If we are not given the injection, how can we treat patients?" asked the chief minister.

As of today Delhi needs around 2,000 injections per day for patients infected with black fungus, but the capital is being provided merely 400-500 injections, said Kejriwal.

"There is an extreme shortage of medicine and its production has to be increased. Since 4-5 injections need to be administered daily and there are around 500 patients, we need 2,000 injections every day but we are receiving only 400-500 injections," he added.