Plea over treatment for sick baby

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An Aberdeenshire couple have said their baby may die from a muscle wasting disease because a treatment has not been approved for use in Scotland.

Yafan Zhao and her husband Sam Tye are keeping a hospital bedside vigil in Glasgow with their eight-month-old son Sean, who is now surviving on oxygen.

NHS Grampian said it had not refused to pay for his treatment, which is already available in England and Wales.

The board said the decision now rests with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The couple learned a week ago that their son may not see his first birthday, when he was diagnosed with Pompe Disease, a rare condition which disables the heart and muscles.

The only treatment is an expensive enzyme replacement therapy.

The drug Myozyme is available to all infant patients south of the border but has not been approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, which provides advice to Scotland's NHS boards.

'Critical time'

Speaking from Yorkhill Hospital for Sick Children, Sean's father Sam said: "I think it's extremely unfair that in parts of the United Kingdom you can get the treatment but you can't in Scotland.

"It's devastating - Sean will die before his first birthday.

"This is a critical time for us."

NHS Grampian said it was following the due process to consider individual cases.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "This drug has not been recommended for use by the Scottish Medicine Consortium in NHS Scotland.

"However, there is a process for non formulary drugs and that process has not concluded."