Editorial
Drug administration needs streamlining
It's key to public health
Drug Administration (DA) is the sole authority of the government entrusted with the task of standardising manufacture of drugs in the country, with an emphasis on quality assurance and the pricing aspect. Of late, it has been revealed through the media that this important organisation had been overlooked and neglected by governments for years. The DA has been in perennial shortage of manpower that has led to the near breakdown of its monitoring system. It is indeed suffering from acute budgetary constraints. We wonder as to how the organisation with its 178 supervisory staff can monitor a drug market worth Tk 500 crore. As a result it is forced to leave two-thirds of the drug market unchecked. The drug authority has only 32 supervisors, overseeing price control and manufacturing companies producing substandard and spurious drugs.
To complicate matters DA officials have no enforcement authority (magistracy power) and are paid ridiculous amount of allowances to carry out their field operations. Moreover the two drug testing laboratories, one in Dhaka and the other in Chittagong are unable to operate properly due to lack of manpower and qualified technicians with machines, equipment and appliances worth crores of Taka lying idle.
The drug administration is too valuable an organisation to be left in such a state of neglect. Drugs are key to public healthcare involving the lives of all sections of the population. Let us not forget we have a highly reputable tradition in the pharmaceuticals sphere and there are some first rate industries exporting quality medicine abroad. In this context, we are concerned about the growth of some spurious drug manufacturing companies. We are also concerned about alleged rise in prices of various life saving and other drugs.
We urge the government to revamp the drug administration. Surely access to quality drugs and medicines at affordable prices is the inalienable right of every citizen.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments