MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown a big heart towards five-month-old Teera Kamat, suffering from a rare genetic diseases by waiving of the Rs 6 crore as a GST amount against `16 crore worth imported medical drugs. Teera Kamat’s parent in Mumbai has generated this entire `16 crore amount through the crowd-funding for her operations. She can be cured through Gene replacement therapy, which includes the medicine Zolgensma imported from the USA.
That cost Rs 16 crore as per Indian currency. Teera’s parents had in October 2020 and again in January shared the medical condition of their daughter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman requesting to exempt the all applicable taxes on the import of this expensive medicine from the US. “The parent of Teera has raised the `16 crore amount through crowdfunding.
The parent no more can spend the money. Therefore, this case should be made as a special case...,” Fadnavis swrote. Modi responded saying that the customs duty on the imported life-saving drug will be exempted for Teera.
Fadnavis wrote back, saying he thanked the PM from bottom of my heart for extremely humanitarian and sensitive approach and quick action for exempting customs duty for importing the life-saving drug. Priyanka and Mihir Kamat, parent of Teera, the residence of Andheri, Mumbai gave birth to Teera on August 14, 2020. By the time she was born, she was just like any other child. After two weeks of her birth, she used to get restless while drinking milk, once she stopped breathing.
The doctors told them that she suffering from Spinal Muscular Astrophys (SMA). It was found that a person with this disease does not have the genes that are expected to make proteins. This slows down the process of nerve and muscle strengthening. As a result, there are restrictions on swallowing food, breathing, and movement without it, and the situation becomes more serious.
There is a great deal of research being done abroad on these rare diseases, and some drugs have recently become available in the US. However, the drug is very expensive and the treatment was beyond their reach. But the couple’s effort has opened many hearts to donate and extend the best wishes to Teera as well.