JAIPUR: About 700 cases of black fungus infection have been reported among the cured Covid-19 patients in Rajasthan, Health Minister Raghu Sharma said on Friday.
The state government has made it a notifiable disease and declared it an epidemic, he said.
Sharma said a protocol has been fixed for the treatment of this disease, cropping up owing to the misuse of steroids in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
Under the protocol for the treatment of black fungus infection or mucormycosis, the quantity of steroids being given in the treatment of Covid-19 has also been asked to be reduced and it should be given only as much as required.
He said the government has issued a rate list for the treatment of this disease in private hospitals.
A separate wing has been set up at Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur for its treatment.
He said the government has allowed nine government and 11 private hospitals across the state for the treatment of the black fungus infection.
These hospitals specialise in the treatments of nose, ear, larynx and eyes.
The minister said the teams of the Medical and Health Department, which are conducting door to door survey, have also been asked to report black fungus symptoms immediately so that treatment can be started at the earliest.
He said the Centre has made available about 2,000 vials of the relevant injection for the treatment of the disease but the state has asked for doses in proportion to the number of cases.
The state recorded 129 deaths and 6,225 coronavirus positive cases on Friday, taking the state's fatality count to 7,475 and infection number 9,03,418, according to an official report.
Jaipur reported the highest 28 deaths followed by Jodhpur (12), Udaipur (9), the report said.
Of the fresh cases, the maximum 1,251 were reported from Jaipur while 548 and 448 surfaced in Jodhpur and Udaipur, respectively.
A total of 7,64,137 persons have recovered from the infection since the outbreak of the pandemic last year and the number of active cases at present is 1,31,806, the report said.