Kejriwal alongwith Arora visits Kanav who got new life support

Ludhiana, September 13, 2023: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accompanied by AAP MP (Rajya Sabha) from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora on Tuesday visited the house of about one and a half years old Kanav Jangra in New Delhi to enquire about progress of his health after Rs.17.50 crore (2.1 million USD) treatment from a Delhi-based hospital.

Kanav was given gene therapy called ZolgenSMA which costs Rs.17.50 crore (2.1 million USD) in July this year after efforts made by city-based NGOs Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust and Samvedna Trust. It may be mentioned here that Arora runs Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust. 

In a statement here today, Arora said Kejriwal was apprised that this was the first case in Delhi whereas a total nine such cases have been cured from all over the country so far. On the occasion, Kejriwal highly appreciated Arora and city-based NGOs for extending full support to Kanav’s family in arranging one pack of gene therapy, ZolgenSMA (Made in USA) at a price of 21,25,000 US Dollars (around Rs. Rs.17.50 crore) in June this year. 

Arora said Kejriwal thanked all donors including celebrities and politicians who extended their full support in this noble cause. Kejriwal also thanked the Centre because Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Directorate General of Health Services had given custom duty exemption certificate on import of the life saving drug/medicine on receipt of Kanav’s application.

Kejriwal also thanked media houses for giving extensive coverage to appeals made by the NGOs for giving maximum donations. Arora said during his meeting with the Kanav’s parents Kejriwal said a few people had raised questions over spending such a huge amount for saving life of a single child but Arora had opined that ask the parents for whom their child is the most precious one. 

Further, Arora said Kejriwal was very happy to find that Kanav’s health has improved a lot after the treatment. Kejriwal gave his blessings for a healthy and longer life of Kanav, said Arora, adding that Kejriwal also handed over a cheque of Rs.3 lakh on behalf of one of the two city-based NGOs for Kavan’s further treatment in the next about a year.  It may be mentioned here that Kanav’s parents had approached Arora on recommendation of Sanjay Singh, MP for seeking financial support. 

Arora recalled that Kanav was treated at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. He further recalled that Member Parliaments (MPs) Raghav Chadha, Hans Raj Hans, Sanjay Singh, Vivek Tankha, Ramchander Jangra, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, Pravesh Verma, Ashok Mittal and Manish Tewari, and celebrities, including Kapil Sharma, Sonu Sood, Farha Khan, Vidya Balan, Chunkey Pandey, Rajpal Yadav, Vishal Dadlani, Ali Asgar, Bharti Singh, Pankaj Tripathi, Shakti Kapoor and Kiku Sharda had made an appeal to people for donating for saving life of Kanav.