International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) has instructed its hospitals and treatment centres to stop using glucose and rice-based saline obtained from the icddr,b Employees’ Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
The decision has been taken by the icddr,b management, pending the cooperative’s registration with the Bangladesh Directorate-General of Drug Administration, which regulates oral saline under the Drug Act of 1982, said a media release on Saturday.
Employees’ Multipurpose Cooperative Society, an independent registered entity, is separately managed by icddr,b employees.
“We’ve no concern about the quality of ORS produced by the co-operative,” said icddr,b’s Executive Director, Professor John D. Clemens, “but we have contracted an alternative supplier until this matter is resolved.”
Chairman of the staff co-operative Dr Anowar Hossain confirmed the decision saying, “The cooperative has stopped production and sale of all formulations of oral saline with immediate effect, and we’re now in the process of obtaining registration.”
The icddr,b management has also confirmed that patient care will not be interrupted during this transition.
ORS was developed by icddr,b, formerly the Cholera Research Laboratory, in the late 1960’s, and since then, is estimated to have saved at least 50 millions lives worldwide.
