Expired medicines worth Tk 365m destroyed

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 21:51, Jul 16, 2019 | Updated : 21:54, Jul 16, 2019

FILE PHOTO/Mahmud Hossain OpuExpired drugs of 158 pharmaceuticals companies worth Tk 365 million have been destroyed since the High Court’s order last month, says the government’s Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
In an interim order after hearing a petition on Jun 18, the court ordered the government to confiscate expired medicines from the market and destroy them.
The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) filed a report with the attorney general’s office on Tuesday (Jul 16).
Deputy Attorney General ABM Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar said that the report will be presented before the bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader.
The DGDA said in the report that expired medicines with an estimated market value of Tk 365 million was seized from 4,587 drug stores across the country in the four weeks since the court’s orders.
The court’s order came after a petition was filed seeking the confiscation of expired medicines following media reports.
Monjur Mohammad Shahriar, deputy director of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, at an event in Dhaka last month said it was found that about 93 percent of the pharmacies were selling expired medicines, after analysing a report of six months.
In the wake of concerns over consumer rights official’s comments, the Bangladesh Association Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) said they see “no reason to panic” at the news of expired drugs being available in the market.
“We (industries) always replenish those with fresh batches or refund the money. So, there is no reason to sell those drugs to the public,” BAPI President Nazmul Hasan told a media call last month.
Drugs can expire in the stores and companies collect and destroy them following ‘standard operating procedure’ of the World Health Organization, according to him.

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Expired drugs found on 93% pharmacy shelves

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