The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the State government to ensure continuous treatment of children suffering from Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs) by releasing funds to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH), Bengaluru, which treats around 19 patients.
The court also directed the Union government to respond by January 10 to the repeated requests made by the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary while cautioning that the court will have to issue necessary direction to the Centre for releasing funds if the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare failed to respond.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur issued the directions while hearing a PIL petition filed in 2015 by the Lysosomal Storage Disorder Society of India, Bengaluru.
The IGICH, which was directed by the court in June 2015 to provide treatment for children suffering from LSDs, had later told the court that it was not possible to provide free medicine to the members of the petitioner-society and a policy decision was required to provide funds. Subsequently, the State government started releasing funds to IGICH.
The government counsel, on Wednesday, pointed out to the court that around ₹18 crore was released for treatment and there was no proper response from the Centre to the request made by the State authorities for grant of around ₹30 crore. The government counsel informed the court that the State was prepared to share 40% of cost of treatment and was requesting 60% share from the Centre.
