Three suspected deaths due to black fungus were reported at a hospital here, the doctors at the facility said on Friday.
The deaths at MBBS hospital, Kota Medical College were recorded in the past 24 hours, they said.
Three men, aged 30 and 40, undergoing treatment at two dedicated mucormycosis (black fungus) wards of the hospital, died, said Dr Rajkumar Jain, Associate Professor, Kota Medical College.
He added that 41 other black fungus patients are currently admitted to the hospital.
Two of the three deceased patients were suspected black fungus cases. While the investigation in the third deceased case is on as the patient was brought to the hospital in a very critical condition and died immediately after admission into the ward, the doctors said.
Jain said while two of the deceased were referred from Jhalawar district, another was from Kota.
Hospital authorities said they have begun an investigation into the three deaths and a report is expected to come out later in the day.
There are reports that medicines to treat black fungus are in short supply at the facility.
Central supply of medicines for mucormycosis is very short. However, we have sent a proposal for it and the supply is expected to be met in the next few days, Dr Naveen Saxena, Superintendent, MBBS hospital, said.
Dr Jain said the 41 black fungus patients hail from Kota, Bundi, Jhalawar and Baran districts of the Hadoti region and most of them have been operated upon.
Almost all of them have a COVID-19 history with comorbidities, he said. He admitted that they are facing crisis due to the short supply of medicines to treat black fungus.
Dr Saxena said a team of expert doctors is conducting three-four surgeries daily. But the problem is that most of the patients have undergone surgeries at private hospitals and when they did not get proper treatment, they were referred or brought to the MBBS hospital, leading to poor output and recovery, he added.
The arrangements are underway to raise the number of beds for black fungus patients at the hospital if their number goes up, he said.
