There is no proper cure for thyroid diseases available at three major hospitals in Rawalpindi due to the unavailability of the required medication, leaving doctors and patients helpless, it has been learnt.
The thyroid is one of the most important glands of the body. Found in the neck, it is responsible for the control of body temperature, heart activity, blood circulation, muscle mass and metabolic rate.
According to hospital sources, the number of thyroid patients visiting the outpatient departments (OPDs) of tertiary care hospitals including Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) are approximately 25-35 per day or 850-1,100 per month.
Carbimazole is the most common drug used in the treatment of thyroid disease, but unfortunately it is not available in any of the three hospitals, leaving patients with no option but to undergo major surgery to remove the thyroid gland.
However, this is not a total cure as the thyroxine hormone replacement drug is also not available in the hospitals and very few chemists stock it, while those that do sell it at different prices.
Talking to The Express Tribune, a senior doctor on condition of anonymity said, “It is unfortunate that in our country, thyroid diseases, which are the third-most common diseases in the country after diabetes and hypertension, are being neglected.”
He said that with each passing day, the number of thyroid patient is increasing in the city, but the government is not taking any measures to ensure the availability of the required medicines.
The hospital administrations of HFH, BBH and DHQ have sent requests to the government for the medicines as their unavailability has left patients in pain and doctors without a solution, but to date, the government has not offered any response.
“If left untreated, thyroid disease can cause death due to cardiac arrest, hypertension or cancer,” he said.
He said there are many thyroid patients who die of the two most common complications of thyroid disease: thyroid storm and thyroid coma.
He noted that thyroid function tests, which are required for initial diagnosis, are available in all three hospitals, but several important tests like thyroid scan are not available.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) Associated Professor Dr Nadeem Iqbal said that approximately 30,000-50,000 people in Rawalpindi city alone suffer from thyroid problems, a majority of whom are women.
Dr Iqbal, who is also a visiting physician at BBH, said that, “The availability of medicine for thyroid diseases can help to decrease the burden of the diseases to a great extent, but unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies that manufacture these medicines have stopped producing them because of the low profit margin.”
He said that every day people with goitres (swelling of the neck due to iodine deficiency and dysfunctional thyroid) can be seen sitting in long queue in the hospitals waiting for their turn, but when it finally comes, they are given surgery dates for the following month.
Besides this, the second option for treatment is radioiodine, which is only available in Noori Hospital, where the patient’s burden is already very high. The third option is surgery, after which the patient has to rely on thyroxine replacement drugs throughout his or her life.
Talking to the Express Tribune, Global Pharmaceutical Chief Executive Mohammad Asad denied that medicines for thyroid diseases are not available in the market.
While he acknowledged that a number of leading brands that were manufacturing thyroxine tablets and Carbimazole have stopped producing it due to the high cost of production and nominal profit margin, he said that other local companies still producing them.
The retail price of thyroxine in tablet form is Rs50 for 100 tablets, which may be why leading brands did not see any economic benefit in producing it.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2011.
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