Chennai, May 28(BPNS)

The government of Tamil Nadu has constituted a special task force to tackle mucormycosis or black fungus. The 12 member committee is chaired by the Director of Medical Education (DME) and is to advise the state government on issues related to mucormycosis, the fungal disease which is reported in patients recovering from Covid- 19.

According to a press release of the state health department, the committee which is drawn from experts from the public and private sector including medical experts would be advising the government in prevention and treatment of the disease.  This task force will also update the government on the latest international research on mucormycosis.

The task force which has the Director of Medical Education as the Chairman will have  the director of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic hospital as  the member secretary. The directors of Medical and Rural Health  services  and Public Health and Preventive Medicine are among the members of the committee.

ENT specialists Dr Mohan Kameswaran of Madras ENT Research Foundation and Dr Babu Manohar of Apollo hospitals ,Infectious disease specialists Dr Subramanian Swaminathan of Global Hospital and Dr V Ramasubramanian of Apollo hospitals, Dr Mohan Rajan of Rajan Eye care, Microbiologists, Dr Anupama Nithya of Sri Ramachandra Hospital and Dr Balajee of Global hospital, the heads of ENT and Microbiology departments of Madras Medical College are the other members of the task force.