17-07-2025
Over 90 children with SMA receiving free drug in Kerala
The Health department in Kerala is now providing free medicine worth lakhs of rupees to 93 children affected by Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a rare genetic condition that leads to progressive weakening of the muscles, under a special scheme.
Five types of the disease are commonly identified based on the age of onset and the severity of symptoms. According to official sources, children below the age of five are being given the free drug since 2022. Those below the age of 12 were included in the scheme in 2024.
A total of 107 children have been given the free medicine since July 2022. Of them, 19 are in Malappuram, 15 in Kannur, 14 in Ernakulam, 10 each in Thrissur and Kozhikode, eight in Palakkad, seven each in Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram, six each in Kasaragod and Alappuzha, three in Kollam, and two in Pathanamthitta. Fourteen of them passed away in the course of the treatment.
An official, who is part of Kerala Against Rare Diseases, the government's comprehensive project to prevent and manage rare diseases, told The Hindu on Thursday (July 17) that the technical committee formed for the implementation of the scheme had been getting at least 15 to 20 fresh applications a year. Those with Type 1 SMA, the most severe and common form of the disease, whose symptoms appear from the age of six months, are given direct approval. These children die within a year of their birth if they don't get the medicine. As many as 67 of those who got the free drug were in this category.
The sources said that the first SMA clinic in Kerala was set up at the SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, and free surgery to correct scoliosis of the spine in SMA patients was also initiated at the Government Medical College Hospital in the State capital. So far, the free surgery scheme has covered 10 children. The government also launched a crowdfunding scheme recently to help SMA patients.
