The medicines, which are manufactured in a state-owned factory for distribution among patients free of cost in the public hospitals, are found selling in the city’s open market, violating rules.
The medicines are manufactured in the factory named Essential Drugs Limited at Bogra and then sent to the country’s public hospitals for patients. As such, the responsibility to protect those medicines from illegal sale implies with the hospitals’ authorities.
But some unscrupulous employees and officials of the hospitals in collaboration with a section of dishonest officials of the Health Ministry and the Health Directorate are reportedly selling the medicines to the drug stores through organised syndicate.
The correspondent talked to several employees of 10 pharmacies in the city about the sale of the medicines.
The employees not to be named said, they are selling almost all the drugs, including co-trimoxazole tablet, paracetamol tablet, chilorpheniramine, ciprocin and amoxaciline, manufactured in the state-owned factory
The demand of the above drugs is lofty despite a high price, they said.
M Nuru Mia, who had a drug store at Hujurpara in Kamrangirchar, told The New Nation, a middle age woman used to supply him medicines every month.
“I usually kept drugs costing about Tk 3,000-5,000 every month and sold those at Tk 9,000-15,000. The woman collecting the drugs from the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and the Nawab Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital (also known as Mitford Hospital) also sold to other stores in this area”, he said.
Nuru Mia, who dealt in medicines, quoting the woman said that the middlemen had to pay Tk one lakh to five lakh in advance to the dishonest officials of the hospitals in the month of January every year
Mohammad Abdul Hye, a government official, said that he was suffering from fever and cold diseases few days ago.
“I went to a local drug store at Luxmi Bazaar, Old Dhaka to buy medicine for fever. The drug store staff sold such medicines as manufactured in the state-owned factory”, he said.
He went on saying, he gave me 14 anti-biotic tablets. It was tagged on the backside of the drugs’ packet ‘The People’s Republic of Bangladesh’s asset, free for distribution, and both sale and purchase are offence’.
When I asked him how did he get the medicines, he did not respond to my query, added Abdul Hye.
The Director of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital could not be contacted for comments, as he did not respond to the calls. A female employee of Mitford Hospital wishing anonymity said that more than 50 people have been doing illegal trading.
