Multiple states, including Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, on Thursday, declared 'black fungus' or Mucormycois as a notifiable disease under Epidemic Diseases Act.
Health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal, in a letter to states and Union territories, had pointed out that black fungus is causing prolonged morbidity and mortality amongst COVID-19 patients and said it should be declared a notifiable disease.
In Maharashtra alone, the disease claimed 90 lives in the state so far, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said.
In Gujarat, the decision to make it a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act was taken at a core committee meeting headed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. A state government spokesperson said the government and private hospitals and medical colleges will have to follow the guidelines laid out by ICMR in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of black fungus.
Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar said black fungus infection is now a notifiable disease and no hospital or medical centre having the capacity to provide treatment should deny admission to patients. An official government order towards this will be notified soon, he said.
Tamil Nadu declared it a notifiable disease after nine people were found to have been infected with it in the state.
The advantage of announcing black fungus as a notifiable disease was that all hospitals would immediately inform the government if they come across such cases, enabling the administration to know which place or district was reporting more such numbers, said Tamil Nadu health secretary J. Radhakrishnan.
Even before the Centre's directive, Rajasthan, on Wednesday, declared it as an epidemic and notifiable disease. State's principal health secretary Akhil Arora said the step was taken to ensure integrated and coordinated treatment of black fungus and the coronavirus.
In an official announcement, Telangana government declared it a notifiable disease and said all government and private health facilities shall follow guidelines for screening, diagnosis and management of black fungus by the Union health ministry and Indian Council of Medical Research. "It is also made mandatory for all government and private health facilities to report all suspected and confirmed cases to health department," the notification said. The state has about 80 cases of black fungus under treatment in both government and private hospitals.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said dedicated centres will be set up for treatment of black fungus at three city government-run hospitals in the national capital.
Earlier, asking the states and Union territories to declare it a notifiable disease, joint secretary in the health ministry, Lav Agarwal, had said, "You are requested to make Mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, wherein all government and private health facilities, medical colleges will follow guidelines for screening, diagnosis, management of Mucormycosis, issued by the ministry of health and family welfare (Gol) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). And, make it mandatory for all these facilities to report all suspected and confirmed cases to health department through district-level chief medical officer and subsequently to integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) surveillance system."
—With PTI inputs