Manmohan, J.

Martin Luther King Junior said, "of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane". The present case many years later illustrates what he had said.

ISSUE

1. The issue that arises for consideration in the present petition is whether a minor child born to parents belonging to economically weaker section of the society suffering from a chronic and rare disease, gaucher, is entitled to free medical treatment costing about rupees six lakhs per month especially when the treatment is known, prognosis is good and there is every likelihood of petitioner leading a normal life.

FACTS

2. The facts of the present case are that the petitioner is a young boy aged about seven years and is represented through his next friend, his father, Mr. Mohd. Sirajuddin. The petitioner suffers from a rare genetic disease called Gaucher Disease, which is Lysosomal Storage Disorder, wherein the body cannot process fat resulting in accumulation of fat around vital organs of the body. If this disease is left untreated, the petitioner is unlikely to survive. Petitioner is the fourth and only surviving child of his parents; his other three siblings have alr