Seha saves Emirati baby’s life with pathbreaking care

Seha saves Emirati baby’s life with pathbreaking care

Seha saves Emirati baby's life with pathbreaking care

5 hours ago

Afra with Dr Omar and her parents.

The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, (Seha), the UAE's largest healthcare network, successfully treated 17-month-old Emirati baby Afra, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

SMA is a group of inherited diseases that damage nerve cells in the spinal cord called motor neurons. This damage is progressive (increases over time), affecting actions like swallowing, breathing, sitting, and walking. SMA is passed on to children by parents through abnormal genes, with the most common form of SMA caused by an unusual or missing survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1 gene).

A specialised team at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), part of the Seha network, successfully diagnosed Afra with the rare genetic disease and developed a comprehensive treatment plan to prevent the condition from further deteriorating, including the provision of a particular type of genetic treatment that was imported from abroad specifically for Afra.

Dr. Mariam Buti Al Mazrouei, Chief Executive Director, SKMC, said: "Seha is relentlessly devoted to providing world-class healthcare to members of our community through distinguished medical, technical and administrative staff using the latest in technology and pharmaceuticals available globally. Thanks to the UAE's robust and