THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As Iodine Therapy at RCC stopped due to technical issues, those who are suffering from thyroid cancer are forced to wait for one year. For the treatment, all the patients must be taken to Kozhikode Medical College hospital. However, at the Kozhikode Medical College there are already 1025 patients registered and waiting.

At a time, two persons can be treated. The treatment must be given for one week. This treatment cannot be provided at RCC until the construction of the 14-storey building is finished. Construction at the place where the system was running made it impossible to continue the treatment.

The authorities are saying that the treatment, that was done within one month at RCC, will be done only after one year at Kozhikode Medical College. This facility is not available in any other government medical colleges, which has aggravated the problem.

The Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, which has a Nuclear Medicine Section for the past twenty-five years, do not have Iodine Therapy system. In other government medical colleges, the Nuclear Medicine Section itself is non-existent.

Every year 1,600 people are diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Kerala. Iodine Therapy is provided only at a few big private hospitals and at a diagnostic center near Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. However, the charges here are very high.

There is a growing demand that the government provide financial assistance to provide the patients with this treatment from these private hospitals through a special insurance plan, as temporary measure.