KAKINADA: About 80 patients recovering from black fungus, staged a protest at the Collectorate here on Wednesday alleging that there is no adequate supply of medicines. Each patient is supposed to take three tablets daily for three months and each strip costs Rs 6,000 during their recovery after surgery.
It was alleged that the staff at the Government General Hospital (GGH) pharmacy were telling the patients for the past 10 days that they do not have stock of the medicines. Given the cost of the medicines, patients are unable to afford to purchase tablets in the open market. Some of the patients hailing from different parts of the district, need to travel more than 60 km to reach the GGH.
A 45-year-old man from Yendmuru said he was infected with Covid in May. After recovering, he was infected with black fungus in June. “I was admitted to the GGH and underwent surgery. I have been visiting the GGH pharmacy for the past few days. But the staff say that there is no stock of medicines.”
When contacted by TNIE, the GGH authorities said they are getting limited stock of medicines and the number of patients is high. Hence, they are not able to supply medicines to all the black fungus patients due to shortage.
When the issue was taken to the notice of district collector C Harikiran, he summoned the GGH superintendent Dr R Mahalakshmi and enquired about the medicine shortage. Later, the GGH Superintendent told the media that she explained the problem to the Collector, who promised to ensure an adequate supply of medicine to all the black fungus patients.