The government is scheduled to sit with stakeholders today (Wednesday) to find reasons behind a recent hike in prices of medicines and medical equipment.
Today's meeting is part of an instruction from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), which is authorised to approve prices of medicines, will hold the meeting on its premises.
Pharmaceutical company representatives, chemists and druggists, law-enforcers, intelligence officials, medical device and instrument importers association, pharmaceutical importers association and Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) have been invited to the meeting.
The DGDA director general will chair the meeting.
Earlier, the CAB has sought the DGDA's appointment to sit with the authorities separately to discuss the issue of an escalation in medicines prices.
In March 2023, the CAB demanded withdrawal of two circulars of the DGDA on the hike of medicine prices, issued on 20 June 2022 and 04 December 2022.
In a letter to the Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC), the CAB said its market review has detected that pharmaceutical companies are gaining 'predatory' profits from selling medicines.
The Health Service Department, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, forwarded the letter to the DGDA to hold a meeting immediately.
The BCC also requested to make an initiative on the allegations of the CAB.
According to the CAB, the gazettes of the health ministry are unclear and having inconsistencies between each other.
According to a CAB study, the maximum retail price of Sulprex 20+100 microgram inhaler of Square is Tk 250 while it is selling at Tk 450.
Ciprocine tablet is selling at Tk 13 apiece wholesale while Quinex of the same group at Tk 12, Beuflox of Incepta at Tk 13 and Albion's Ciprofloxacin at Tk 3.50.
According to government calculation, the production cost of per-packet saline (edible) is maximum Tk 2.0 while its packet price is Tk 4.18 and market price Tk 5.0-6.0 apiece.
The state-backed Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL) is selling saline at Tk 3.45 per piece.
In crisis situations, Pethidine sells at Tk 400-500 against its actual price of Tk 35.
The production cost of nasal drop of Opsonin is Tk 1.03 per 25 mg while 10 mg of such drop of Popular Pharmaceuticals is selling at Tk 15-20.
Square is selling Seclo 20 mg at Tk 4.30 apiece while SKF is selling same generic Losectil at Tk 3.20, Omenix of Incepta at Tk 4.30and Lotil of Alboin at Tk 1.0.
Opsonin is selling painkiller group medicine Diclofenac at Tk 2.80 per piece while Square's Clofenac SR at Tk 3.50 and Clofen of Alboin at Tk 0.95.
Square Pharmaceuticals is selling Cef-3 at Tk 31, Incepta's Emixef at Tk 28 and Cefixime of Alboin at Tk 15, disclosed the CAB study.
The CAB said many pharma companies are selling medicines in the market without complying with the mandatory provision of obtaining registration from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and vaccines without proper testing.
The CAB alleged the relevant authorities' inaction to check such irregularities on health safety of consumers.
CAB general secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said they would attend today's meeting to hear from the stakeholders prior to take any legal action.
"At this stage, there is no scope to scrap the gazettes. The CAB will seek the court's support to stop a move to further increase medicine prices," he added.
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