Staff Reporter :
If anyone is found guilty of producing, storing and selling counterfeit or adulterated medicines and having no license as well as selling stolen government drugs will be jailed for 10 years and penalized for Tk10 lakh.
Besides, the same punishment will also be applicable for importing medicines without government approval.
The Cabinet on Thursday approved the draft of The Drugs Act, 2022, keeping provisions of tougher punishments with a view to preventing malpractice in pharmaceutical sector.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting, joining virtually from her official residence Gonobhaban, while other cabinet members were connected from
the Bangladesh Secretariat. Briefing reporters, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam, said the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has been instructed to remain vigilant in this regard.
“The offenses, for which the maximum punishment of 10-year jail and Tk 10 lakh fine or both were kept in several sections of the draft law for the drug related anomalies and offenses, include producing or importing drugs without licenses; producing, importing, exporting, marketing, stocking, selling or showcasing drugs without registration; producing, selling, stocking or marketing adulterated drugs; and stealing and selling government’s drugs.” The Cabinet Secretary said.
According to Khandaker Anwarul Islam, the punishment for such crime is a maximum of three-year jail term and Tk two lakh fine in the existing act of the country.
It is alleged that a section of unscrupulous greedy people are involved in producing, storing and selling counterfeit or adulterated medicines across the country.
There is a provision for a tribunal in the law. At the district level, assistant judges or senior assistance judges can be given the authority to try the cases, while the district judges can act as the appeal authority until the formal tribunal is formed as per the draft law, said the cabinet secretary, adding that this minor amendment was brought.
The cabinet also approved in principle the draft of the National Industry Policy, 2022 with a view to accelerating the economic progress of Bangladesh through industrialization with the balanced use of local raw materials and resources alongside cashing the facilities of the 4th industrial revolution.
