Modi Government Help 5-Month-Old Teera Kamat Fight SMA

Narendra Modi led government is being hailed for helping a 5-month-old Teera Kamat fight a rare medical condition. The Union government waived import duty and GST of Rs 6 crore on life-saving medicines for the child. The news was shared by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.

Teera Kamat suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It is a complete break down of nerve cells results in zero control over muscle movement. She can be cured through Gene replacement therapy, which includes the medicine Zolgensma imported from the USA.

Her parents, Priyanka and Mihir Kamat had written on social media about their child’s fight with a debilitating ailment. Their plea had lead to fundraising. They had also pointed out that 23% import duty and 12 % GST added an extra Rs. 6 crores to the cost of Rs 16 crore that the treatment entails. Though they had managed to raise Rs 12 crore in a span of 75 days through crowdfunding. But were worried about the extra.

In October 2020 and again in January they had shared the medical condition of their daughter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They had also appealed to the Union Government to waive off the import duty and GST on medicines.

 

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A post shared by TEERA M KAMAT (@teera_fights_sma)

Devendra Fadnavis had also written to the Central Government to waiver of the taxes and GST on the life-saving drug. Modi responded saying that the customs duty on the imported life-saving drug will be exempted for Teera. Fadnavis soon thanked the PM for his sensitive approach for exempting customs duty for importing the life-saving drug.

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