The shortage of thyroid cancer specialists in the national Capital has severely impacted the treatment of thyroid cancer patients. According to Professor Dr CS Bal, Head, Department of Nuclear Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), there is a huge shortage of trained cytopathologists, endocrine surgeons and radioiodine therapy facilities in Delhi and that has to be addressed on an urgent basis.
"Delhi which is recognised as a medical hub for patients across the country however, has no endocrine surgery department and only 15 cytopathologists are there. There is only one institute for cytopathology (ICMR's institute of cytopathology), with a few takers," said Dr Bal and added that there is no training center for endocrine surgery and a few students come forward to choose this field as career option.
Even AIIMS has no training facility for an endocrine surgery. As a result, pathologists who perform histopathology are performing cytopathology while general surgeons are practicing complex head and neck surgeries, he said.
Dr Bal noted the reason behind the shortage in cytopathologists and endocrine surgeons is limited scope for these experts and low awareness amongst the medical fraternity.
"There is no demand from the hospitals as very few students come forward to choose such fields as career option," he said.