Exclusive: A Life-Saving Injection Worth 16 Crores! Heart-Wrenching Story of How a City Hospital Saved a Childs Life

A 16-month-old child named Din Mohammad from Purba Medinipur received free gene therapy worth 17.5 crore rupees at Peerless Hospital in South Kolkata. Din Mohammad was admitted to the hospital in November, and his name was selected this year through a lottery by Novartis’s Global Managed Access Program. Din Mohammad’s mother told, Aima.Media “Dr. Sanyukta De treated my son, and following her guidance, I received this free therapy, which saved my son’s life.”
The 'Cure SMA Foundation of India' helped with the application and all hospital procedures. The foundation's director and co-founder, Moumita Ghosh, expressed gratitude to the pharmaceutical company and the hospital, saying, "The child is receiving life-saving ‘Zolgensma’ for free."
For children with SMA Type 1, gene therapy is the only treatment option. This therapy, created by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, was approved by the U.S. regulatory agency in May 2019 and is considered a major breakthrough. SMA is a rare genetic disorder that hampers muscle control, occurring when both copies of the SMN1 gene (one from each parent) are defective. Without treatment, SMA is often fatal.
Dr. Sanyukta De, Din Mohammad’s doctor, is hopeful about his gradual improvement. She mentioned that current data shows the carrier rate for SMA is 1 in 35, making it potentially the second most common genetic disorder after thalassemia.
'Zolgensma' provides a healthy copy of the defective gene, helping nerve cells produce the essential protein, preventing nerve cell degeneration, and allowing the child to develop normally. Previously, two other children received this therapy: Soumyajit Pal, now 2, received it at 20 months old, and Abraham Hossain, now 3, received it at age 2.