Four major Civil hospitals in Gujarat have reported 532 mucormycosis cases till date and cases are rising at an exponential rate even as experts say that the incidence is 0.27% - just 3 per 1,000 Covid patients. However, this low incidence rate has been enough to overwhelm the public health infrastructure of the state in terms of space, while almost everywhere there are emergency calls and pleas for help regarding availability of Amphotericin B, the anti-fungal medication that controls mucormycosis.
Ahmedabad Civil Hospital has treated about 280 Mucormycosis patients till date, with 100 active cases in the hospital as of May 9. They had more than 120 cases back in March. Rajkot Civil Hospital currently has 150 active patients, but alarmingly 70 of them were admitted in just the last two days. While CM Vijay Rupani called for all civil hospitals to set up one special ward for Mucormycosis patients, Rajkot Civil Hospital had to set aside one entire building for them after transferring Covid patients to other parts of the hospital.
Doctors say that even as Covid cases are plateauing in Gujarat, mucormycosis cases will continue and that the state immediately needs to procure anti-fungal medication before a Remdesivir-type shortage erupts again. This is because the onset of mucormycosis is faster in patients in the second wave than it was in the first. Dean of Government Dental College in Ahmedabad said, “Earlier we used to see patients developing symptoms post-Covid, after a fortnight or a month. Now, Covid patients are developing Mucormycosis while still under treatment for Covid-19. We start them on anti-fungal medication but cannot operate on them to remove the fungus till they are RT-PCR negative.”
11,592 new Covid cases in Gujarat
As many as 11,592 new Covid cases were reported in Gujarat on Monday compared to 11,084 cases on Sunday, while 14,931 recoveries were recorded. Even as the number of patients discharged from hospitals continued to grow, the number of new Covid-19 cases rose by more than 500 cases from the previous day. As many as 117 people succumbed to the infection, taking the death toll to 8,511 in the state. The recoveries stand at 5,47,935, which is 79.11 per cent of the overall tally. Currently, there are 1,36,158 active cases, with 792 on ventilator support.
In new cases, Ahmedabad was followed by 1,230 in Vadodara, 1,092 in Surat, 572 in Rajkot, 565 in Jamnagar, 507 in Mehsana, 338 in Bhavnagar and 269 in Gandhinagar, as per the health department statement. The city also saw 20 deaths, followed by Jamnagar with 14, Vadodara 12, Surat and Rajkot 11 each, eight in Junagadh and fewer deaths in other districts.
As many as 1,37,49,335 vaccine doses have been administered till now in the state, including 2,07,700 on Monday, of which 29,817 were in the 18-44 age group. Analysis of the deaths reveal that in April – the month which saw the highest ever cases and mortality due to coronavirus across Gujarat - the urban areas were driving the growth with 71% of the deaths and 67% of the cases recorded from the eight municipal corporation areas. “But now the scenario is changing – as the cities are recording a dip in the cases and deaths, there is a relative rise in positivity and mortality in other parts of the state. In May, the non-urban areas’ share has increased to 41% in daily cases and 53% in daily deaths,” said a public health expert.
