The Health Ministry has announced cabinet approval to allocate LE90 million for cure of patients of Gaucher Disease.
Mona al-Naqa, head of the ministry’s basic care sector, said the number of children with Gaucher’s reached 130 in 2017. There is a need of 722 ampules of medicine with costs of LE16.4 million monthly.
“A decision was issued by the minister in 2014 to form a committee to conduct economic and health feasibility studies of the treatment,” she said adding that 108 students were treated last year.
The Ministry Spokesperson Khaled Megahed said the public department on the reduction of disability is working on providing the cure of the disease at medical centers of seven universities including Cairo, Ain Shams, Alexandria, Assiut, Fayoum, Zagazig and Mansoura in accordance with patients’ monthly needs.
Gaucher’s is a rare condition where people lack a certain enzyme in their bodies, causes anemia, weak bones and accumulation of fatty substances in certain cells and organs — typically in the abdomen. During pregnancy, there is a 25 percent chance that the baby could be infected with Gaucher’s if one of the parents was a genetic carrier of the disease.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
