Indian Muslims rally to save Hindu child with rare disease
Friday worshippers at Delhi’s Jama Masjid join fundraising drive seeking nearly $1 million for Hindu girl’s costly gene therapy
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Hundreds of Muslims emerging from Friday prayers at Delhi’s historic Jama Masjid contributed to a fundraising campaign for a Hindu girl battling a rare genetic disease, offering money toward one of the world’s most expensive medical treatments in a display of interfaith solidarity.
The appeal brought the child’s mother and volunteers to one of India’s most prominent mosques, where worshippers stopped after Jumu’ah prayers to hear about the girl’s condition before donating in cash or through digital payment codes.
The child suffers from spinal muscular atrophy Type 1, or SMA, a severe genetic disorder that progressively weakens muscles by damaging nerve cells responsible for movement.
Her campaign is seeking about 97 million Indian rupees, roughly $1.1 million, for treatment, according to reports on the fundraiser.
The amount reflects the extraordinary cost of gene therapy for SMA. Zolgensma, a one-time treatment that delivers a functioning copy of the defective SMN1 gene, has an international price running into millions of dollars.
Indian government guidance has estimated its cost at about 160 million Indian rupees, although concessions and exemptions have brought the price to around 90 million rupees in some Indian cases.
The fundraising effort began after volunteers encountered the distressed mother outside New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences and learned about her daughter’s condition.
They subsequently took the appeal to Jama Masjid and social media, carrying the child’s photograph and QR codes through which people could contribute.
Campaign organizers said approximately 63.3 million Indian rupees had been raised by this week, leaving millions more needed to meet the treatment target.
Videos from Jama Masjid showed Muslim worshippers gathering around the volunteers and making contributions according to their means.
The response offered a contrasting image of Hindu-Muslim relations in India at a time when anti-Muslim hate speech, religious polarization and communal disputes have become increasingly prominent in public life.
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