icddr,b stops using saline produced by employees

icddr,b has instructed its hospitals and treatment centres to stop using glucose and rice-based saline obtained from the icddr,b Employees' Multipurpose Co-operative Society, an independent registered entity, managed separately by icddr,b employees, a release said Saturday.
The decision was taken by icddr,b management, pending the co-operative's registration with the Bangladesh Directorate-General of Drug Administration, which regulates oral saline under the Drug Act of 1982, the release added.
"We have no concerns about the quality of ORS produced by the co-operative," said icddr,b's Executive Director, Professor John D. Clemens, "but we have contracted an alternative supplier until this matter is resolved."
Staff co-operative Chairman Dr Anowar Hossain, confirmed the decision.
"The co-operative has stopped production and sale of all formulations of oral saline effective immediately, and we are now in the process of obtaining registration," he said.
icddr,b management has confirmed that patient care will not be interrupted during this transition. ORS was developed by icddr,b (formerly the Cholera Research Laboratory) in the late 1960s, and since then, is estimated to have saved at least 50 millions lives worldwide.