There are 2 lakh 16 thousand 791 drug stores or pharmacies across the country. It is the number of registered shops. However, the registration of 1 lakh 73 thousand 693 pharmacies has expired. As per rules, pharmacy registration is not to be obtained without a pharmacist. But in reality, if you go to the drug store, you will not meet the pharmacist. Drug stores without pharmacists have been doing business illegally for years due to lack of supervision. As a result, patients are always at great health risk.
Not only that, most pharmacies do not follow any rules for storing and selling life-saving drugs. Medicines are not kept at the temperature they are supposed to be kept in the pharmacy. It also does not maintain the quality of medicine.
Experts say, if there were pharmacists, these risks would have been reduced a lot. The work of pharmacists in Bangladesh is being carried out on a very small scale. Due to this, patients are deprived of proper treatment.
A pharmacist is a drug specialist. The doctor diagnoses the patient and gives the prescription or instructions. And the job of the pharmacist is to recheck the prescription, prepare the medicine, dispense it to the patient and advise the patient on the usage and storage of the medicine.
Pharmacy department is functioning in 13 public universities and 25 private universities of the country. There are 1 lakh 88 thousand 847 pharmacists who have passed from them in the country. Most of them are involved in drug manufacturing. There is no pharmacist sitting in the pharmacy.
In such a situation, World Pharmacist Day is being celebrated today on Wednesday like every year. The Pharmaceutical International Federation (FIP), an international organization of pharmacists, has set the theme for this year’s day as ‘Pharmacists: meeting global health needs’.
According to the sources of the Directorate of Drug Administration, according to the rules, the registration of the pharmacy has to be renewed every two years. However, last year only 42 thousand 896 pharmacies were renewed. The remaining 1 lakh 73 thousand pharmacies are operating the system illegally. Stocking, displaying and selling medicines in pharmacies with expired registration is a punishable offense under the Medicines Act. However, the drug administration in charge of supervision could not be seen to take much action even though it has been going on illegally for years. This organization is responsible for inspecting these pharmacies at least once a year. However, only 63,971 pharmacies were visited last year, which is only 29 percent.
No pharmacists were found in Messrs. Chowdhury Pharmacy, Messrs. Seba Medical Pharmacy, Messrs. Hossain Pharmacy, Messrs. Janta Pharmacy, Ripe Pharma, Messrs. Bichmillah Pharmacy and Dulal Pharmacy in Shahbagh area of the capital yesterday. There are about 50 drug stores in Shahbagh area. Most shops are in the same situation. Even Large Pharma, a major pharmaceutical company in Hatirpool, is running without a pharmacist.
When contacted, Mohammad Lutfar Rahman, the owner of Large Pharma, said that there are 65 pharmacies in the city under the name of Laj Pharma. I manage a few myself. Other pharmacies use Laz Pharma brand name and logo for business purposes. Our policy does not permit the operation of a pharmacy business without a pharmacist. However, due to the shortage of pharmacists, such a situation may occur in some places.
Baridhara General Hospital Pharmacy, Naeem Pharmacy in Mitford, Shakeel Brothers, Sahara Drugs, Rajiv Enterprises, Al Aqsa Medicine, Alauddin Medicine Pharmacy are operating without registration. No skilled pharmacists in management. The drug administration recently sealed these institutions after finding evidence of selling fake medicines. However, after a few days, they started again.
A study by Dhaka University, University of Asia Pacific, Japan’s Kanazawa University and Germany’s Ebbhard Karl University showed that there are 10 percent substandard and adulterated drugs in Dhaka market. In addition, differences were found in similar drugs manufactured by the same company. Experts call it alarming. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) vice-chancellor and pharmacology department professor Md suggested reducing the number of pharmacies and increasing supervision. Syedur Rahman. He told Samakal, Bangladesh has five times more pharmacies than it needs. It would be fine if there were 40,000 pharmacies in the country. Over 1 lakh pharmacies have been approved in the last two years. Drug administration is unable to control due to excess pharmacy.
He said, those who are managing the pharmacy, they are only undergoing three months of training. There are also questions about the quality of that training. Due to this, distribution and sales management of medicines is weak.
Former professor of clinical pharmacy and pharmacology department of Dhaka University. b. M. Farooq said, in developed countries, pharmacies are managed by pharmacists. Such a system has not been developed in our country. As a result, drugs are also sold in grocery stores. Pharmacy vendors store drugs like grocery store merchandise. Because of this, the effectiveness of the medicine also decreases a lot. In some cases not at all. In many cases, even taking life-saving drugs, many people are at risk.
The Medicines Act was passed in September last year. However, the drug administration has not taken the initiative to permanently close even one pharmacy that is running illegally. On Tuesday, an official of the Medicines Administration told Samakal that the new law has given executive powers to the Medicines Administration. A policy on its use is under development. If there are policies, it will be possible to take action against these pharmacies.
Director of the Department of Medicine Administration. Aktar Hossain told Samakal that not only the registration period has passed, but there are many unregistered pharmacies. It is important to find them.
According to him, proper supervision is not possible due to shortage of manpower. However, the Department of Drug Administration is always active to prevent the sale of substandard drugs.
However, Akhtar Hossain mentioned that it is necessary to research why drug stores are increasing. He said, it should be investigated whether the shopkeepers are benefiting in any way from the drug manufacturing company.