1/13/2020 Antibiotics use and sale in Bangladesh without prescription continous

Monday, January 13, 2020

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12:00 AM, January 13, 2020 / LAST MODIFIED: 11:44 AM, January 13, 2020

ANTIBIOTICS USE, SALE: Who needs

PRESCRIPTION?
Despite HC directive, over-the-counter sale continues

Moudud Ahmmed Sujan

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1/13/2020 Antibiotics use and sale in Bangladesh without prescription continous

Despite a court directive to stop the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics, the health
authorities have taken no concrete steps in this regard, raising the spectre of superbugs,
which cause some seven lakh deaths globally per year.

Sale of antibiotics without requiring prescription from registered physicians is still high in
the country, The Daily Star has found visiting over two hundred drug stores and talking to
experts.

Bacteria-fighting drugs known as antibiotics help control and destroy many of the harmful
organisms that make people sick. But overuse and misuse of antibiotics prompt some
strains of bacteria to make a small change in their DNA and become antibiotic-resistant 
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“superbugs”, experts say. 

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1/13/2020 Antibiotics use and sale in Bangladesh without prescription continous

There is no data on deaths caused by superbugs in Bangladesh, but professors at

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) say about 70 percent of the
deaths at ICUs are caused by AMR [antimicrobial resistance] infections.

AMR is a situation when microorganisms like bacteria, virus and some parasites resist
medicinal interventions.

“Problem is people don’t know which drugs are antibiotics. Around 15 lakh people are
taking antibiotics daily and most of them don’t have prescriptions,” Prof Sayedur Rahman,
chairman of pharmacology department at the BSMMU, told The Daily Star.

A recent study, carried out jointly by the Directorate General of Drug Administration
(DGDA) and the WHO, shows that antibiotics consumption in Bangladesh has increased by
30.81 percent in the last two years. The DGDA and the WHO used data from the
pharmaceutical companies, and the study report was released on November 27 last year.

Earlier on April 25, the High Court ordered the DGDA to take steps to stop the over-the-
counter sale of antibiotics.

 The ruling came after a writ petition was filed by Advocate Sayedul Haque Suman over
the matter. The writ was spurred by a report in UK’s The Telegraph, which cited a report
this newspaper ran under the headline “A big cause for health concern” in April last year.

High-ups of the DGDA -- the apex regulatory body for pharmaceuticals -- claimed they had
done their best. But in reality, they only issued a notice in May to all district
commissioners and civil surgeons, asking them to take steps in line with the court
directive.

The notice was followed-up by a reminder a month later. That was the extent to which the
DGDA acted.

DGDA Director Ruhul Amin told The Daily Star, “Our drug inspectors are regularly
advocating this issue at meetings with stakeholders.”

Queried further, he again mentioned that “awareness was all important” in this regard.

People concerned, however, said the DGDA’s action was “just to save its skin”.

Meanwhile, a laboratory analysis by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology

(DMI) of BSMMU, conducted from 2010 to 2018, has found a sharp rise in the number of
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superbugs in the country.

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