The verdict and the accompanying observation made by the Drug Court judge in the Rid Pharma's spurious paracetamol syrup case last month did tell amply about the state of affairs with the Drug Administration (DA), the regulatory body in the country's pharmaceutical sector.
All the accused were acquitted by the court as the prosecution could not prove the case against them. The judge said there were weaknesses in the investigation work on the part of the official concerned of the DA. Thus, parents of at least 28 children who, allegedly, died after consuming the spurious paracetamol syrup, produced by the Rid Pharma, have been deprived of justice because of the DA's negligence, deliberate or otherwise.
Indifference and neglect, it seems, have gone deep into the DA's system. The unabated and injudicious rise in the prices of pharmaceutical products is a glaring example.
The prices of most medicines have recorded rise, ranging from 30 per cent to 60 per cent, during past six months. The price issue has been making newspaper headlines frequently, but both DA and the drug manufacturers have remained unmoved. It seems that the two have joined hands in the act of fleecing patients as much as possible.
It is not unusual for the drug manufacturers to maximize their profits, even at the cost of poor consumers. But should the DA be a party to such unethical act? In that case it would do injustice to its very name. Its primary responsibilities include controlling the price and quality of drugs and medicines. Unfortunately, the DA has been failing in both the cases. However, the regulator is not at all concerned and, apparently, it gives a damn to what newspapers and rights organisations say about its inaction.
Legally speaking, the DA has nothing to do with price and manufacture of medicines beyond those on the 'essential drugs' list. In fact, the organisation had been failing on that account also. Most drug manufacturers are avoiding the production of the essential drugs since those would not fetch them enough profit.
There is no denying that Bangladesh pharmaceutical sector has come of age and is now placed on a strong footing. In addition of dominating the domestic market it has making its way into external markets, including that of developed ones.
Undeniably, the WTO's TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) exemption has largely made the growth of domestic pharmaceutical sector possible. However, the basic objective of the TRIPS waiver has been to help the peoples of poor countries to have access to medicines at the minimum cost. Unfortunately, the greed for making unusual profit by the drug companies has deprived the poorer section of population of that benefit, to a large extent, in Bangladesh.
When the price issue is raised, the drug manufacturers would invariably claim that medicines are cheaper in Bangladesh compared to that of any other developing country. But they tend to hide the fact that the income level of majority of the Bangladesh population is still low and it is none but the people of this country have helped the pharmaceutical sector to reach the present stage. That is why they deserve better deal from the drug manufacturers.
Moreover, the DA needs to tell the drug manufacturers that free market economy does not empower them with the licence to fix the prices of their products whimsically. The current drug price situation calls for some decisive actions from the DA. If it doesn't have the power to control drug prices, it should seek some from the government.
The pharmaceutical companies very often refer to the rising cost of production. But they can cut the same by a notable margin by reducing the expenditures involved in unethical promotional activities. It is now widely known how the drug manufacturers offer gifts and sponsor foreign trips to a section of physicians to promote their drugs.
It is not just drug price, a good number of companies, according to media reports, are engaged in unauthorised trade of imported raw materials. Raw materials reportedly make their way into the Mitford drug market in Dhaka and sold openly to small and little known drug companies. These companies allegedly mix other binding materials of their choice to produce drugs. The producers of counterfeit medicines do also source the raw materials from the Mitford market.
It is alleged that the DA has never bothered to stop the open and unauthorized trade of drug raw materials and penalise the operators. In fact the very name of Drug Administration has turned out to be a bit of misnomer, since it does not administer anything. Rather its maladministration has given rise to lots of problem in the health sector. The Ministry of Health does need to look into its activities, urgently, and take appropriate actions.
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