ON July 9, the Kerala High Court raised concerns about the practice of unrestricted crowdfunding by many people for the treatment of children with rare diseases and said the state should have some control over it.
A single-bench of Justice PB Suresh Kumar was considering the plea of an autorickshaw driver, Arif, seeking free treatment for his six-month old son, who was suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). He said that while he had obtained permission for importing the required medicine, he could not afford to buy even one dose of it due to its cost, which was Rs 18 crore. The crowdfunding campaign for Arif’s 18-month-old son, Muhammed, a native of Kannur district, was taken over by social media, and resulted in the amount being raised within seven days from across the world.
The Court said that it did not want every Tom, Dick and Harry to collect money and asked the state government if there was any state control over collection of funds via crowdfunding? Further, it said that it should be in its knowledge where the money was going and if private individuals and entities could collect crores in a short span of time, why couldn’t the government do so?
The judge wondered why when the state government had started collecting money to provide free vaccines it had raised only Rs 68 lakh. However, Rs 18 crore was raised within seven days by some people for the drug for Arif’s son. What is the magic behind it, asked the Court?
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