South Eastern Coalfields to pay Rs 16 crore for treatment of coal miner's child with rare disease

SECL, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), has agreed to bear a cost of Rs 16 crores for the treatment of a two-year-old child of its coal miner who is suffering from a rare disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Srishti Rani, daughter of Satish Kumar Ravi, an overman working in Dipka coal area of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), is suffering from SMA, a genetic disorder in which a person can't control the movement of muscles due to loss of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain stem, an official release by SECL read.

Srishti needs to be jabbed with an injection named Zolgensma, which costs Rs 16 crores. The kid is presently put on a portable ventilator at her residence at Dipka coal area of SECL in Chhattisgarh. She was last being treated at AIIMS, Delhi.

"It was not possible for an employee like Satish to buy an injection at such a high price. Now, CIL management has taken a welcome decision to bear the cost of injection, which has to be imported. With this generous gesture, CIL has also set an exemplary example for other PSUs and organizations thinking human resources along with their families are their real wealth and saving their lives at any cost is the first and foremost job," a senior SECL official said.

Srishti was born on November 22, 2019. Within six months after her birth, she started falling sick. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, her parents could not move outside for her better treatment and she could only get local treatment till the time they moved to Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore in December, 2020, where she was diagnosed with SMA.

On December 30, 2020, while returning from Vellore to Ravi's workplace in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh, her health deteriorated and she was admitted at SECL empanelled Apollo Hospital, Bilaspur got treated for a long time there. Later, she also got treatment at AIIMS, Delhi and the kid is presently put on a portable ventilator at her residence at Dipka coal area of SECL in Chhattisgarh.

(ANI)