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| Sunday, 03 August 2003 |
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Relief at last for asthma patients "Seven years of hard work has borne fruit and I have been able to make an inhaler and drug locally to treat asthma patients at a cheaper rate," said Dr Anil Goonetilleke, the General Physician who made it a reality. Dr Goonetilleke was honoured with a Presidential Award for inventions and innovations last week at the BMICH for his contribution, which was the only invention in the medical category. It is already patented in Sri Lanka. Dr Goonetilleke said asthma is the number one cause of hospital admissions. Our country has one million asthma patients, out of which 20 per cent are children. Since inhalers are beyond the reach of the common man and not freely available, people take steroids orally, which result in a lot of serious side effects such as brittle bones, diabetes and mood changes. He said that inhalers give optimum relief without posing any side effects and that every asthma patient should use them."The drug beclamethasone manufactured by me will prevent the symptoms of asthma while most drugs containing salbutamol relieve its symptoms," he said. Dr Goonetilleke plans to establish a factory in Ratmalana and start commercial production by mid-2004 and assured that he would be able to give a capsule at one third of the present market price. Even inhalers will be cheaper than the current market price. He was confident that he will be able to supply at least 20-30 per cent of the market requirement, around two million capsules a day. "Once I move into commercial production, capsules will be freely available and will come within the means of everybody. On the other hand, I will be able to provide employment," he said. Marketing will be handled by a company with marketing experience, he said. Dr Goonetilleke passed out from the Medical Faculty of the University of Colombo in 1984. After his MD, he proceeded to the UK for his MRCP and specialised in chest medicine while in the UK. |
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