The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the city government to expeditiously process the application of a five-year-old boy suffering from Gaucher’s disease for free Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT) under the National Policy for the Treatment of Rare Diseases.
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The court order came on a plea by advocate Ashok Aggarwal contending that the boy’s father Sajid Khan had applied to the Delhi government for providing free treatment but had not received any response.
Mr. Aggarwal said response from the Central government stated that Mr. Khan has to apply to the State government, which will process his request for treatment at a designated hospital.
Taking note of the submission, the court directed the Delhi government to designate at least two government hospitals here where such patients can be provided treatment.
The court told the government’s standing counsel Ramesh Singh to look into the matter personally, and ensure that this case and other similar cases are dealt with on urgent basis.
The court noted that the Central government had submitted an affidavit in pursuance of its last order. The affidavit stated that two expert committees had been constituted and all necessary steps to implement the National Policy were being undertaken.
The affidavit added that ₹100 crore have been earmarked under the National Health Mission towards Central assistance to States as the Centre’s share of 60% of the approval cost for treatment of rare and genetic disease.
