Staff Reporter :
The Ministry of Health has suspended two officials of the drug administration for negligence in probing the incident of deaths of at least 28 children after taking spurious Paracetamol syrup of Rid Pharmaceuticals Limited in 2009.
The two officials are Assistant Director of the Directorate General of Drug Administration Shafiqul Islam and its Deputy Director Altaf Hossain.
Health Secretary (service) Sirajul Haque Khan informed this to the High Court on Thursday after he appeared before the bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan as per its yesterday’s order. The trial court verdict also recommended punishment of the two drug administration officials for their negligence in probing the shocking incident.
The health secretary also apologised to the HC for not taking actions against the drug officials earlier.
The HC accepted the apology and exempted the health secretary from personal appearance before it in connection with the case.
Earlier on August 3, the High Court bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan directed the Health Ministry to explain why the two officials would not be suspended and removed from the services following the trial court verdict.
The health ministry on August 23 in a report informed the High Court that the two officials were only warned for their negligence in duty and departmental case was initiated against them.
The court, however, rejected the report and asked the ministry to submit report again by Thursday after suspending the officials.
On November 28, 2016, The Dhaka Drug Court acquitted all the five accused, top officials of Rid Pharmaceuticals Limited, of the charges of producing and marketing toxic Paracetamol syrup that caused the deaths of children in 2009.
In the verdict, the court observed that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and the accused were acquitted of the charges due to negligence in the investigation, and the filing of the case.
At least 28 children died of renal failures after taking Paracetamol syrup from June to August of 2009 across the country.
On August 10, 2009, the then drug superintendent Shafiqul Islam filed the case with the Dhaka Drug Court against them.
