The government has said that financial assistance of up to 50 lakh rupees will be provided for the treatment of patients suffering from any of the rare diseases identified under the National Policy for Rare Diseases. The policy identifies 63 categories of rare diseases. In a written reply, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav informed this in the Lok Sabha. The minister further informed that the ministry will provide these funds to the Centre of Excellence for the treatment of rare disease patients.

In another written reply, the minister said the Department of Health Research has constituted a National Consortium for Research and Development on Therapeutics for Rare Diseases to streamline research activities in the country. The minister also said the ICMR’s Extramural Programme Task Force on Rare Diseases has been set up, while the ICMR has also initiated 19 projects on drug development under the Therapeutics for Rare Diseases for Indigenous Therapies.