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companies, which were not very much experienced in the field. On the other
hand, those medicines, which were previously purchased from such major
companies as Stada Arzneimittel, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, and Pfizer
without recourse to intermediaries, were bought through broker companies
in Turkey, Indonesia and other places, which caused price of such medicines
to increase several times. Most of those medicines were used by patients with
special diseases and advanced cancer. As a result, one vial of some of such
medicines as monoclonal antibodies, infliximab, Rituximab (Rituxan), and
Patient with brain tumor stands three months in line for medical imaging
My brother had some form of malignant cancerous tumor of the brain,
known as alveolar soft part sarcoma. In order to see the progress of the
disease across the patient’s body, doctors had to carry out a positron
emission tomography (PET) scan.
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The only medical center, which
could do this, was Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran. The earliest
appointment with the hospital could be only made for three months later.
For this disease, such a delay in imaging couldmean the loss of the patient.
I did my best and asked all my friends for help until I found a person who
could ask the head of the medical imaging center on my behalf to make
an appointment for my brother at an earlier date. The head of the imaging
center, who was an old engineer, looked at me and said, “I have lost my
own sister to cancer; so, I totally understand you. All people who refer to
this center have urgent conditions. I cannot give somebody else’s place
to you. The only help I can offer you is that when it is somebody’s turn for
imaging, we usually call them a day earlier and if one of them cancels their
appointment, it will be yours.” I understood what he was saying; I had to
wait until in the interval before my turn came, one of those in line would
die and they could give his/her place to my brother. My brother went
through imaging a month after that and died sometime later.