Black fungus patients from across State struggle to find beds in Bengaluru

Most are unaware of the official procedure for admission of such cases in hospitals

The dearth of treatment facilities and supply of medicines in many cases is forcing mucormycosis (black fungus) patients in other districts to seek medical help in Bengaluru. However, when they arrive at the State’s capital, most are unable to find a bed as they were unaware of the official procedure where District Health Officers (DHOs) have to be alerted so that beds can be organised for them. Others travel to the city only to realise that they have been falsely diagnosed with black fungus. Anjaneya, a lineman from Raichur, developed pain in one of his nostrils days after he recovered from COVID-19. The local hospital diagnosed it as a case of mucormycosis, but said they had no medicine – Liposomal Amphotericin B – to treat the deadly fungal infection. Instead, they gave him an antibiotic and sent him home, asking him to try his luck after a week. But he panicked and reached the city, seeking immediate treatment. “It’s only after we came to Bengaluru that we realised the procedure. Our DHO had to write to the DHO in Bengaluru who had to recommend us to get a bed in either Bowring or Victoria Hospitals. After a lot of running from pillar to post, we went to Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, where it was diagnosed that it was not a case of black fungus,” said Rangareddy, a close friend of Anjaneya. “We spent four very tense days, unnecessarily,” he said.