Parents of children with juvenile rheumatic arthritis indignant at cabinet's refusal to revise financing of treatment in 2013 budget

Kyiv, December 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Parents of children that suffer from juvenile rheumatic arthritis have called on the Ukrainian government to allocate UAH 35 million from the 2013 national budget for the treatment of such children.

The head of the action group of the Joy of Movement Public Organization, Kateryna Kodnianska, said at a press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine that by order of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych the Health Ministry has submitted to the government a proposal regarding the allocation of UAH 35 million from the 2013 national budget for the treatment of children with juvenile rheumatic arthritis.

"As a result, they did not allocate funds for treatment. Refusal to provide access to modern treatment is an obvious violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, which guarantees the right to medical aid," she said.

In protest against the government's position on the issue, before the New Year and Christmas the parents of such children will pass to the Cabinet of Ministers New Year a pair of crutches, in order to remind the officials what kind of future the ill children will have.

"These crutches are what our state presented to our children for next year, and maybe for their whole life," said the mother of an ill child, Tetiana Heichenko.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, is the most common form of arthritis in children and adolescents. Juvenile in this context refers to an onset before age 16, idiopathic refers to a condition with no defined cause, and arthritis is the inflammation of the synovium of a joint.