Observing that it can’t wait for the response of authorities in matters related to “life”, the Delhi High Court Thursday directed AIIMS to treat a 11-year-old boy, who is suffering from severe aplastic anaemia and requires a bone marrow transplant. Justice Navin Chawla asked the institute to give necessary treatment at the earliest to the minor, and directed the Union Health Ministry to reimburse the treatment expenses. The court listed the matter for further hearing on July 24. Earlier, while flagging concern about the seriousness of the issue to AIIMS, the Centre and Delhi government’s health ministry, the court sought their stand as the minor is in need of a bone marrow transplant — the only life-saving treatment for the disease. The court was hearing a plea by the minor’s mother, who claimed lacunae in two major health-related schemes — the Centre’s Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme and Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) — due to which patients suffering from life-threatening diseases are being deprived of monetary benefits to avail treatment. The minor’s counsel, advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, sought immediate directions to AIIMS to treat him with a bone marrow transplantation costing around Rs 12 lakh. He submitted due to the said fallacy, many patients suffering from diseases involving transplantation have died as they failed to benefit from either scheme. The petitioner sought directions to the health ministry to remove the lacunae as a bone marrow transplant is not covered under Ayushman Bharat, nor do rules allow him to avail benefits of RAN scheme due to which the child has been left with no option except to die. It sought to declare that both schemes complement each other to help patients like the petitioner. The advocate informed the court that RAN provides financial assistance for medical treatment to ‘below poverty line’ patients, in case he/she suffers from life-threatening diseases relating to the heart, kidney and liver, at government hospitals and super speciality facilities. Under RAN, the patient was eligible for maximum financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh. The plea said Ayushman Bharat does not cover diseases which require transplantation such as end-stage renal disease, chronic kidney and liver disease, aplastic anaemia and cancer. Thereafter, the government launched Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, which covers the poor and economically backward section and gives insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family.
