Number of goitre patients on rise in Shariatpur
The number of goitre (morbid enlargement of the thyroid glad) patients in the district is increasing alarmingly due to iodine deficiency.
A survey conducted by a non-governmental organisation recently also revealed that the patients with disabilities have also market a rise in the district due to the absence of iodine in salt they consume.
The survey report said, on an average, the daily intake of iodine for an adult should be 150 microgram. But the people of the area could not be have it from water and soil, the main source of iodine. Excessive rainfall and flood water was away iodine every year, it said.
To meet the deficit of iodine in human body, the government enacted a law in 1994 for producing, selling and using iodized salt.
As per they law, production and sale of non-iodized salt are strictly prohibited. But a section of unscrupulous traders, defying the government ban, are selling non-iodised salt for making windfall profit.
They are selling such non-iodised salt in colourful packets misleadingly labeled as iodised salt, it is alleged.
It is also alleged that non-iodised salt from across the border has flooded the local markets, especially in the char areas, and is being sold at a very cheap rate.
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