Editorial
Drug testing inadequacies
The gaps must be filled in urgently
The paracetamol syrup tragedy which caused no fewer than 25 child deaths has brought to the fore the issue of how well equipped the Drug Administration is to deal with spurious and substandard medicines posing a grave threat to public health.
The ground reality is that the Drug Administration has to rely on only two drug testing laboratories to make sure that poor quality drugs do not enter the market. But as the deaths of the babies have proved beyond any iota of doubt, the two laboratories fall far short of what has to be done to stop marketing of drugs containing toxic substances.
The Drug Administration is also performing well below the required level as far as supervision of the procurement of raw materials by the drug manufacturers is concerned. It has only 24 supervisors against the sanctioned posts of 45. It shows that supervision of the raw material procurement process has never been treated as a matter of priority. And we have just seen what such lax supervision can lead to. Children have been murdered through supplying drugs unfit for human consumption. And the saddest part of the story is that similar deaths occurred in the early nineties too, but the Drug Administration has not bothered to do anything to stop repetition of the tragedy.
It is really disturbing to learn that the government- run drug testing laboratory at Mohakhali does not have the modern equipment and trained manpower required to handle an issue as sensitive as clearing drugs for use by patients. Now, the question is if the laboratory does not have the required facilities, how can it justify its existence? Obviously, it is not an area where shoddy or slipshod work is permitted. And how can the Drug Administration refute the popular notion created by the recent deaths that it has no concern for human lives? True, the manufacturer of the poisonous drug is the real culprit here, but how can the Drug Administration avoid the responsibility of protecting people from the hands of highly unscrupulous manufacturers?
So, the focus should be as much on capacity building in testing drugs as on punishing the murderers masquerading as drug manufacturers. The number of drug testing laboratories needs to be increased immediately to handle the huge load of work created for them by our booming pharmaceutical business. At the same time, the two existing laboratories must be equipped with all the modern facilities, so that substandard stuff does not enter the market.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments