NAGPUR: What began with contracting Covid ended up with a permanent scar on their minds and faces.
TOI talked to four patients of mucormycocis or the black fungus whose eyes or facial bones were removed.
Some of them tried to put up a brave face as they await reconstructive surgery to be done in the coming days to remove disfigurement.
For patients whose eyes were removed, the loss is permanent and all they can get is just an artificial eye.
Navin Paul, 46, is perhaps the first patient of mucormycosis in Vidarbha or even Central India, say doctors.
Paul, a state government employee, had contracted Covid in September and soon had problems in his teeth and eye.
Read AlsoBlack fungus: Patna hospitals run short of beds, injectionWith a significant rise in the number of mucormycosis or black fungus cases in the state, it has become a nightmare for patients to find beds in hospitals.
Despite the allotment of additional beds in government-run hospitals and private health facilities, many patients are being turned away.At that time the black fungus was new to the doctors.
Paul began complaining of the symptoms in October.
In February, he was operated upon and an eye was removed.
In all, Paul spent Rs 1.48 crore for his treatment.
He was treated at six hospitals and underwent nearly 13 surgical procedures before his left eye was removed.
Paul got Rs 1 crore from the Railways where his wife is an employee.
He had to make arrangements for the remaining Rs 48 lakh.
“I was prepared for it.
I told the doctors that they can remove my eye if it saves my life,” Paul told TOI.
He was detected with Covid in September but returned from the hospital in a few days.
Soon, he developed problems in his teeth and eye.
“I was first admitted to a neurology hospital in the city.
From there I was referred to an eye hospital in Hyderabad.
After brief stays in both the places, I was back to another hospital in Nagpur.
From there I was asked to go to a corporate hospital in Mumbai,” says Paul.
He ran out of funds at the Mumbai hospital where he was charged Rs19 lakh.
He sought discharge and came back to Nagpur where finally, his one eye was removed at a private hospital.
Read AlsoSeven of 26 mucormycosis patients in Ghaziabad have white fungus tooWhite fungus was detected in the patients — aged 30-50 years — after their nasal tissues were sent for histo-pathological examination.
While four of them are admitted to the clinic, three are being treated through OPD checkups.
Officials in the clinic said they had informed the health departmentPaul says he’s happy that his life was saved.
The operation has left a hollow in his face and eye.
“Sometimes, while eating, the food enters the hole where I used to have my eye,” he says.
The problem will be eventually solved with a prosthetic, say doctors.
“At that time, mucormycosis had not come into the limelight and even doctors did not have much experience.
Since it was a rare disorder which occurred in persons with severely suppressed immunity, initially, none thought that it could be the fungus and continued with the line of treatment according to best of the judgment,” said Dr Ashish Kamble, one of the eye surgeons treating mucor patients.
“He was perhaps the first patient of mucormycosis in the region and I was the last doctor to have operated him.
The patient had undergone a number of procedures before,” says Dr Vipin Dehane, who has performed a number of surgeries after Paul’s.
“He is inconsolable.
Suddenly in the afternoon he started weeping and said he was better dead.
I told him that his family needs him.
We are happy your life has been saved even if your eyes have gone,” says Vaishali, wife of Nilesh Bende from Darwa in Yavatmal.
In his late thirties, Nilesh, father of a seven-year-old, had got a job as a private security guard at the women and child development department.
His wife Vaishali is a central government employee.
“The loss of his eyes has left him broken.
He can no longer go back to his job, even his salary for the previous months has not been paid,’ says Vaishali.
First, Nilesh’s one eye was removed and 10 days later, the other one.
Tears started rolling from his one eye when doctors said even that will have to be removed,” she says.
“I have told him that the vision of one of the eyes can be restored in the coming days as technology advances.
I know he is not going to see again but I had to lie to keep his hopes alive.” says Vaishali.
Read AlsoRajasthan: 27% of black fungus patients were Covid positive at time of diagnosisMucormycosis, also known as black fungus, is not a post-Covid complication completely.
At least 27% admitted patients diagnosed with mucormycosis were Covid positive and hadn’t recovered when they contracted the ailment.Nilesh was operated by Dr Kamble and others.
He was struck by Covid in March.
With no symptoms, he remained quarantined at home.
After a couple of weeks, he felt discomfort and got a RTPCR done again, and was tested positive.
He was put up at a Covid Care Centre in Yavatmal where he lost vision in one eye.
The family has spent Rs 20 lakh, part of which was funded by selling a house.
Nilesh was not in a position to talk.
Akola’s Ajay Shimpikar and Subodh Kasulkar were both operated by Dr Dehane for removal of facial bones.
Very little can be known about the jaw bones that were removed from the pictures shared.
“That was due to deft surgery.
The inner part of the face was operated, it does not leave any impression externally,” said Dr Dehane.
Both patients can undergo reconstructive surgeries to regain their normal looks.
“Please tell me if it’s not clear.
My speech has been hampered due to the operation,” says Kasulkar, a lawyer from Chandrapur.
He sounded normal on phone.
“It’s worse than cancer.
I’m looking like an old man,” he says as he waits for the reconstructive surgery.
Kasulkar tested Covid positive in October and while undergoing treatment, his sugar levels shot up to 500.
He finally ended up with the fungal infection.
He thanks the doctors for saving his eyes.
Ajay’s brother, who received the call, said he was prepared for the surgery and has remained strong ever since.
He had Covid in March which was followed by murcormycosis.
Ajay works in Mahagenco.
The family has spent Rs 20 lakh for the treatment.
Vidarbha’s first black fungus patient spent Rs 1.5 crore for new life
