Sale of drugs without prescriptions

It is a free-for-all situation in Bangladesh as far as purchase of drugs and medicines is concerned. One can buy almost all medicines from drug stores without a prescription from a registered doctor. There is nothing called a 'prescription' or 'over-the-counter (OTC)' drug in this country. A small number of drug stores ask for prescriptions only in the case of selling sedative tablets or injections. However, it is not that difficult to procure the same since the number of pharmacies that do bother the least about prescriptions, is overwhelmingly large.

The habit of buying medicines not falling in the OTC category prevails among both the poor and relatively affluent people. Moreover, a section of people here developed a quack-like tendency to prescribe medicines for others without realising the implications of such an unfair practice. The dangers of consuming or using drugs not prescribed by registered doctors are many because of immediate adverse reactions and long-term effects. There could be immediate cure of an ailment, but in the long-run some serious side-effects might emerge. The consumption or use of antibiotics, hormones and steroids without prescription may, particularly, invite serious troubles.

Registered physicians take notice of the contra-indications and side-effects of the medicines they prescribe. Doctors in many cases do not prescribe the same medicines for all the patients suffering from the same diseases because of contra-indications, relative or absolute.  A quack does never take note of all the possibilities involving the use of a drug. There is no way of knowing the impact of widespread consumption of drugs without prescriptions from registered doctors in the country. The Drug Administration (DA), the agency responsible for looking into the drug-related safety issues, is not at all interested in carrying out its designated duties and responsibilities.

When the DA could do little about the manufacture and sale of spurious and substandard drugs in large quantities, it would be too much to expect any effective measure from it (DA) to stop the sale of medicines without prescriptions. The authorities concerned, unfortunately, are yet to prepare the lists of OTC and prescription drugs. Once that is done, they would be required to ensure the compliance with those lists. However, the preparation of the lists might prove to be a futile exercise in the end. The DA, as it does in other cases, might cite the reasons such as shortage of funds, logistics and manpower for not being able to enforce compliance with the lists.

Undeniably, the government is not serious about the public health issues. For example, the state of the public health facilities that are visited mainly by the poor and low income people remains highly unsatisfactory, and the pharmaceutical companies have been increasing the prices of drugs and medicines whimsically, making those beyond the reach of the poor. The need for ensuring the safe drug consumption has, apparently, never crossed the minds of health sector honchos. Under such circumstances, all concerned would only continue to expect the health ministry and its relevant agencies to be proactive while carrying out their respective jobs. They should help the people who are in need of all sorts of medical attention and do away with the practices that are detrimental to public health.