Pharmaceutical products worth more than Tk 20 billion are being sold in the local market a year though there is no specific list of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescribed drugs.
Experts said buying and using of drugs without prescriptions is putting people at a serious health risk of becoming drug resistant.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline, there must be lists of OTC drugs and drugs that can be sold only against prescriptions. But no government in Bangladesh has succeeded in preparing any such lists.
Salim Barami, director of the Directorate General of Drugs Administrations, said: "In the drugs policy review we have suggested preparing a list of OTC drugs."
"Currently we have allowed only contraceptives, ORS and antiseptics to be sold OTC, considering that selling such items will not affect public health due to non-risk factors."
He said in many countries there are lists of OTC drugs. But in Bangladesh the authority concerned is scared that if the list is prepared, it may aggravate the current trend of buying drugs without physicians' advice.
The drug official said it is a matter of concern that if there is a list of OTC medicines, the manufacturers might be able to advertise for those drugs like the neighboring countries. As a result, use of drugs would be increased without the physicians' prescriptions.
Dr. Munir Uddin Ahmed, professor of the pharmacy department of Dhaka University, said if the government takes initiatives for making a list of OTC medicines, it should prepare a list of prescribed drugs at first and then a list of OTC drugs. Even both the lists can be prepared at a time.
Mr. Ahmed said currently, in absence of any list, people are buying and using antibiotics randomly, and gradually becoming drug resistant.
He said in many cases drugs like antibiotic, steroid, sedative and antidepressant etc are being sold without the physicians' prescriptions, which is increasing the patients' complexities further.
Momenul Haq, vice president of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries (BAPI), said the government should prepare a list of OTC medicines. If it is prepared, three will be less hassle in marketing of drugs, and people will get them easily.
He said for many drugs the doctors' prescriptions are not required, as people are well aware of the use of those drugs, to be placed under OTC list.
There is no exact statistics on the quantity of drugs, sold without prescriptions in absence of the list.
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