BENGALURU: Abdul Jameel’s mother Yasmeen (55) was admitted to a private hospital in Hebbal for treatment of mucormycosis, or black fungus, for one month and 25 days. Her left eye was swollen and she had lost her vision, and required surgery to remove the infected parts. The cost ran into Rs 8 lakh.
“One injection of Amphotericin costs Rs 7,448, and supplements cost Rs 5,000. I couldn’t afford to get her three injections a day, so managed with only two, and got her discharged. Now we need to readmit her, and are raising Rs 7 lakh,” said Jameel, who lost his job at a private company. The cost of Yasmeen’s treatment is Rs 17,000 per day. His father, too, had contracted black fungus, which cost Rs 2.5 lakh for a week. Jameel said the government must step in and provide the injection for free.
Similarly, Shah Rukh got his father Ahmed Shariff (52) discharged on Wednesday night from a private hospital in Madiwala, after shelling out Rs 6.17 lakh for 25 days of treatment for Covid and black fungus. He bought three Amphotericin injections a day costing Rs 22,400. He took a loan of Rs 5 lakh, prior to which he had spent Rs 2 lakh on his father’s treatment in a private hospital in Tumakuru, before shifting him to Bengaluru.
Sabeel Nazir, trustee of Naasih Foundation, that sponsors 3-5 injections per patient, said Liposomal Amphotericin B costs around Rs 7,000 while Amphotericin B Emlusion costs Rs 4,800. He says that once the infection is under control, poor patients get discharged and visit the OPD to get an injection thrice a day for three weeks. This costs them Rs 1,500-2,500 per day, while hospital stay costs Rs 7,000-8,000 a day.
The state has not come up with plans to cover the cost of black fungus patients in private hospitals, as it did with Covid patients, through the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust. Health Minister Sudhakar had announced a cap on black fungus treatment in private hospitals, but it was never implemented.