KOCHI: The High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to constitute a committee including doctors to examine a six-month-old child suffering from a rare disease and who is in need of a medicine that costs around Rs 18 crore.
The committee should form an opinion as to the correctness of the stand that the drug for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) cannot be administered to the child undergoing treatment at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital as he is on ventilator support.
The court also directed the government to file a report before the court. The plea came before the court a day after reports appeared that the money for the costly drug was mobilised through crowdfunding for another child with the same condition in Kannur.
Justice P B Suresh Kumar issued the order on a petition filed by P K Arif, father of the child and an autorickshaw driver from Malappuram. P Chandrasekhar, counsel for the petitioner, said his client’s second son, who is only about six months old, is under treatment for a rare but deadly disease, spinal muscular atrophy.