New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Friday issued notice to the central and Delhi governments and AIIMS on a plea filed by Afghan refugee parents of a four-year-old boy suffering from aplastic anaemia, a life-threatening disorder.
Justice Manmohan sought response from the governments and hospital July 24.
The kid, Kulraj is in dire and immediate need of bone-marrow transplant to save his life, which would cost around Rs.10 lakh, as per the estimate given by AIIMS, advocate Ashok Agarwal appearing for the parents told the court.
The plea said that as per the last examination, his platelets have come down to 2,000 and are dwindling, against a minimum normal of 150,000.
Since the kid’s parents are not in a position to afford the cost of the treatment, AIIMS, the central and Delhi governments, jointly as well as severally, have a constitutional obligation under article 21 to bear the entire cost of the treatment of the patient in order to save his life, argued Agarwal.
The kid’s health has been deteriorating and the doctors have warned that he is not responding well to the current treatment. The boy has lesions appearing all over his body, particularly in the mouth and he has stopped eating for the last two days, the plea stated.
Kulraj’s father, Sujan Singh is a Sikh refugee from Afghanistan. His family had come to India in 1992 and settled here. He works as a salesman and earns around Rs.8,000 a month. Unable to afford the hefty cost of treatment of his son, he approached the court, submitted the plea.