The tales of medicine, alternative medicine and so on
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Hafeejul Alam
Spurious and even hazardous pharma products have become a real threat to the health of the people at large and one wonders how those are yet available on medical prescriptions. A few recent incidents glaringly point out how vulnerable are our ailing masses before the greedy drug producers. There seems none to look after this shoddy picture of our health sector. It has been reported in the media, time and again, that many drug manufacturers of our country are turning out not only sub-standard drugs but life-threatening ones, but no action from any quarter was ever discernable. It is known to almost all and sundry, thanks to our ever-conscious media, as to how recently a huge number of babies fell sick and some even reportedly lost their budding lives by taking poisonous paracetamol syrup of a drug company and vitamin A with questionable quality.
There is no denying the fact that some of our drug producers ( not more than 20% of the total) manufacture international quality medicine and those are exported to even many developed countries. In the last fiscal year, the total export of medicine was over US $42 million. Presently there are over 222 licensed drug manufacturing companies and obviously, the quantity increased at the cost of quality. The under-staffed Drug Administration has virtually no control over such a large number of drug plants. During the early years of our independence, and also before the usurping of state power by General Ershad, reputed national and multi-national companies used to produce quality medicine including vitamins and minerals and, of course, other life-saving drugs and poor people could buy those at a very reasonable price.
However, things had been overturned since then. Many useful drugs were withdrawn from the market on "professional advice", albeit those are still profusely available in our neighboring countries and a lot of those are reportedly smuggled back into our own country and sold in the market at a very high price. In the name of saving the local industries, the role of reputed multi-national companies were restricted, leading to minimisation of competition. All these retrograde policies resulted in proliferation of sub-standard drugs with high prices on the one hand and deprivation of the poor people to get life-saving drugs of international quality, on the other.
While I would leave up to the judgment and scientific scrutiny of professional pharmacists as to whether most of our drug companies fully comply with the standard pharmacopeia using raw materials of international quality, as a sheer consumer who tries to keep abreast of different medical journals of international repute and who had the opportunity to visit many European and North American countries and, of course, countless drug stores over there, let me confine myself to find out the heel of Achilles in respect of over-the-counter medications only. For example, if a hypertensive or a gouty patient seeks for a simple Vitamin C tablet with 100% Ascorbic Acid in any drug store, he/ she will never get it in Bangladesh, because no local drug companies produce Vitamin C with only Ascorbic Acid. Either they will mix small portion of Ascorbic Acid with larger amount of cheap Sodium Ascorbate or simply they will do it only with Sodium Ascorbate, which is extremely harmful for people with high blood pressure. Only Glaxo Laboratories used to produce "Celin" with total Ascorbic Acid but the company has stopped the production since a long time. It may be recalled that Vitamin C (with Ascorbic Acid only) is profusely available in any foreign country including in our neighboring countries and sold without prescription.
All knowledgeable persons including of course the doctors and pharmacists know very well that Vitamin B-Complex is synergistic and continuous taking of Vitamin B-complex partially can cause permanent damage to different body organs. It is very sad to note here that none of our drug companies produce total B-Complex . They produce a so-called B-Complex with only three to four ingredients and conveniently ignore many vital necessary elements including lecithin, biotin, inositol etc which are regarded as highly heart-friendly. Again, such vitamins with total ingredients are always available over-the-counter in all developing and developed countries.
Needless to mention that one can prolong such lapses on the part of our drug makers by a long shot.
Now, let me make a note of food supplements, which may also be called alternative medicine and are openly available in the advanced countries over the counter and thus help the people greatly over there. It is said that most of our doctors avoid the latest developments in the science of medicine. This is why they think so-called alternative treatments do not work. It appears that our drug administration is also suffering from that age-old misconception. But the truth is, today's "alternative" treatment often becomes tomorrow's standard of treatment.
For decades, the alternative and nutritionally-oriented physicians had advocated the omega-3 (fish) oils as a proven preventative for cardiovascular disease, and as a vital component for neurological development in the young. However, if you try to find those health-friendly alternative medicines or food supplements like omega-3 or other anti-stress compound in any drug store in Dhaka or elsewhere in Bangladesh, you would barely find any, for the vested interest would not allow the people to live without paying thousands of taka to the coffers of the so-called doctors for prescribing taditional medicines and still there is no warranty of keeping in shape in return, for most of the drugs prescribed have serious adverse side-effects.
It is learnt that, of late, the men from the drug administration are not allowing the sale of alternative mmedicines and thus they are putting the lives of the millions at stake. Obviously, it's not possible for everybody to fetch those supplements from abroad and it is also not affordable either. It seems that the much-publicized market economy has lost its course in Bangladesh only in the production and distribution of medicines. It is really strange that while biscuits and chocolates and even "paratta" form Malaysia, cosmetics and other fancy goods from many western countries galore in our big shopping malls and departmental stores, we never find there any quality medicine or vitamin from those countries. We fail to understand as to, irrespective of the source, why the health-supportive standard medications would not be imported and why the citizens of Bangladesh would be deprived of getting quality medicines at a fair price and whose interests are being served by keeping the people at bay.
The concerned authority should realize that it's not protection but competition which improves quality of products and shreds off the spurious producers. In the greater interest of our pharmaceutiical industry whose export volume has already dived down, the government should not take the matter so lightly, for here our image as as a medicine exporting country is very much involved. I would therefore suggest that a strong task force be immediately constituted to visit the pharmaceutical factories across the country and report to the government as well as to the public.
I would also urge the government to look into the whole gamut of chaos in the 'medicine" sector of our country and take punitive measures against the rouge drug producers and ensure that the people at large get access to both traditional and alternative medications of international quality at a reasonable price. Stern measures could not only improve the drug scenario and save our people from the curse of greedy drug producers but also greatly improve our image in international medical arena, paving the way for more and more export of quality drugs.
The writer is a former civil servant. He may be reached at e-mail: hafeej2002@yahoo.com
Spurious and even hazardous pharma products have become a real threat to the health of the people at large and one wonders how those are yet available on medical prescriptions. A few recent incidents glaringly point out how vulnerable are our ailing masses before the greedy drug producers. There seems none to look after this shoddy picture of our health sector. It has been reported in the media, time and again, that many drug manufacturers of our country are turning out not only sub-standard drugs but life-threatening ones, but no action from any quarter was ever discernable. It is known to almost all and sundry, thanks to our ever-conscious media, as to how recently a huge number of babies fell sick and some even reportedly lost their budding lives by taking poisonous paracetamol syrup of a drug company and vitamin A with questionable quality.
There is no denying the fact that some of our drug producers ( not more than 20% of the total) manufacture international quality medicine and those are exported to even many developed countries. In the last fiscal year, the total export of medicine was over US $42 million. Presently there are over 222 licensed drug manufacturing companies and obviously, the quantity increased at the cost of quality. The under-staffed Drug Administration has virtually no control over such a large number of drug plants. During the early years of our independence, and also before the usurping of state power by General Ershad, reputed national and multi-national companies used to produce quality medicine including vitamins and minerals and, of course, other life-saving drugs and poor people could buy those at a very reasonable price.
However, things had been overturned since then. Many useful drugs were withdrawn from the market on "professional advice", albeit those are still profusely available in our neighboring countries and a lot of those are reportedly smuggled back into our own country and sold in the market at a very high price. In the name of saving the local industries, the role of reputed multi-national companies were restricted, leading to minimisation of competition. All these retrograde policies resulted in proliferation of sub-standard drugs with high prices on the one hand and deprivation of the poor people to get life-saving drugs of international quality, on the other.
While I would leave up to the judgment and scientific scrutiny of professional pharmacists as to whether most of our drug companies fully comply with the standard pharmacopeia using raw materials of international quality, as a sheer consumer who tries to keep abreast of different medical journals of international repute and who had the opportunity to visit many European and North American countries and, of course, countless drug stores over there, let me confine myself to find out the heel of Achilles in respect of over-the-counter medications only. For example, if a hypertensive or a gouty patient seeks for a simple Vitamin C tablet with 100% Ascorbic Acid in any drug store, he/ she will never get it in Bangladesh, because no local drug companies produce Vitamin C with only Ascorbic Acid. Either they will mix small portion of Ascorbic Acid with larger amount of cheap Sodium Ascorbate or simply they will do it only with Sodium Ascorbate, which is extremely harmful for people with high blood pressure. Only Glaxo Laboratories used to produce "Celin" with total Ascorbic Acid but the company has stopped the production since a long time. It may be recalled that Vitamin C (with Ascorbic Acid only) is profusely available in any foreign country including in our neighboring countries and sold without prescription.
All knowledgeable persons including of course the doctors and pharmacists know very well that Vitamin B-Complex is synergistic and continuous taking of Vitamin B-complex partially can cause permanent damage to different body organs. It is very sad to note here that none of our drug companies produce total B-Complex . They produce a so-called B-Complex with only three to four ingredients and conveniently ignore many vital necessary elements including lecithin, biotin, inositol etc which are regarded as highly heart-friendly. Again, such vitamins with total ingredients are always available over-the-counter in all developing and developed countries.
Needless to mention that one can prolong such lapses on the part of our drug makers by a long shot.
Now, let me make a note of food supplements, which may also be called alternative medicine and are openly available in the advanced countries over the counter and thus help the people greatly over there. It is said that most of our doctors avoid the latest developments in the science of medicine. This is why they think so-called alternative treatments do not work. It appears that our drug administration is also suffering from that age-old misconception. But the truth is, today's "alternative" treatment often becomes tomorrow's standard of treatment.
For decades, the alternative and nutritionally-oriented physicians had advocated the omega-3 (fish) oils as a proven preventative for cardiovascular disease, and as a vital component for neurological development in the young. However, if you try to find those health-friendly alternative medicines or food supplements like omega-3 or other anti-stress compound in any drug store in Dhaka or elsewhere in Bangladesh, you would barely find any, for the vested interest would not allow the people to live without paying thousands of taka to the coffers of the so-called doctors for prescribing taditional medicines and still there is no warranty of keeping in shape in return, for most of the drugs prescribed have serious adverse side-effects.
It is learnt that, of late, the men from the drug administration are not allowing the sale of alternative mmedicines and thus they are putting the lives of the millions at stake. Obviously, it's not possible for everybody to fetch those supplements from abroad and it is also not affordable either. It seems that the much-publicized market economy has lost its course in Bangladesh only in the production and distribution of medicines. It is really strange that while biscuits and chocolates and even "paratta" form Malaysia, cosmetics and other fancy goods from many western countries galore in our big shopping malls and departmental stores, we never find there any quality medicine or vitamin from those countries. We fail to understand as to, irrespective of the source, why the health-supportive standard medications would not be imported and why the citizens of Bangladesh would be deprived of getting quality medicines at a fair price and whose interests are being served by keeping the people at bay.
The concerned authority should realize that it's not protection but competition which improves quality of products and shreds off the spurious producers. In the greater interest of our pharmaceutiical industry whose export volume has already dived down, the government should not take the matter so lightly, for here our image as as a medicine exporting country is very much involved. I would therefore suggest that a strong task force be immediately constituted to visit the pharmaceutical factories across the country and report to the government as well as to the public.
I would also urge the government to look into the whole gamut of chaos in the 'medicine" sector of our country and take punitive measures against the rouge drug producers and ensure that the people at large get access to both traditional and alternative medications of international quality at a reasonable price. Stern measures could not only improve the drug scenario and save our people from the curse of greedy drug producers but also greatly improve our image in international medical arena, paving the way for more and more export of quality drugs.
The writer is a former civil servant. He may be reached at e-mail: hafeej2002@yahoo.com