Bangladesh's cancer woes

Shortage of drugs has hit the country's only state-run cancer hospital

By Alastair Lawson BBC correspondent in Dhaka

Patients at Bangladesh's only state-run cancer hospital have said they are having to delay or stop treatment because they are being charged for drugs which were previously free.

They said that some of the terminally ill cancer victims attending the National Institute of Cancer Research in Dhaka simply do not have the money to pay.

About 60 people a day who undergo chemotherapy treatment at the hospital have been told that they must buy their own drugs before they are dealt with.

Hospital authorities said in private there had been a shortage of drugs for cancer patients since before the election last year.

They said many of those who cannot afford to have treatment are poor people who have struggled to travel to Dhaka from all over the country.

'Real pain'

Hundreds of cancer patients wait patiently to be treated at the institute every day.

Patients left to fend for themselves

One of them, Mohammed Abdul Hossain, said he might have to delay treatment now that the government had stopped paying for the drugs.

"I can't afford the price of the drugs I need for my cancer treatment. The doctors say that unless I pay for them they cannot treat me," he said.

"It's a real pain, especially because there is no shortage of medical facilities for the better-off."

Hundreds have now returned home untreated and anti-cancer charities say they expect a significant rise in the number of fatalities in the next few months.

The government says that it does not have the resources to continue providing subsidised medicine for cancer patients indefinitely.