Patients suffered immensely as medicine traders kept their stores shut all over the country on Thursday in protest at the raids by drug administration and law enforcement agencies and seizure of counterfeit and substandard medicines worth Tk 5 crore.
The duration of the strike, enforced by Bangladesh Chemists and Druggists Association, was, however, reduced by four hours to 12 hours from 6:00am.
ASM Monir Hossain, deputy secretary of the association, told New Age that they had earlier decided to observe the strike till 10:00pm, but reduced its duration considering the sufferings of the people.
He said that the association would hold a meeting on October 8 to decide their next programme if the administration did not accept their demands.
During the strike, leaders of the association met with the director general of Directorate General of Drug Administration, Major General Jahangir Hossain Mollik and submitted their eight-point demand.
The DG assured the pharmacists that their demands would be considered.
The association leaders said they had demanded release of their fellow traders, reopening of sealed pharmacies, seizer lists of confiscated medicines, and gazette notifications on approved and unregistered medicines. They also demanded that doctors should not prescribe unregistered medicine. The DG assured them of considering the demands.
‘The DG has assured us that the detained medicine traders would be released and sealed shops would be opened,’ said Sadiqur Rahman, president of the association.
The DG also told them that necessary steps would be taken, through proper legal procedures, to free those who had been fined and jailed, he said.
Patients across the city suffered as most of the drug stores at Mitford, the country’s largest wholesale medicine market, Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Aziz Medicine Market at Shahbagh, remained closed on the day.
During a visit to Mitford medicine marker, only shop was found open. The shopkeepers said it was kept open with the permission of the association to sell emergency life-saving medicines.
Shirin Akhter, sister of
a gynaecological patient at DMCH, told New Age that she had searched the entire area for a medicine the doctor had prescribed for the patient, but could not buy it as all nearby medicine shops were closed.
Earlier, Rapid Action Battalion, Drug Administration and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution in a joint drive on September 28 seized a huge amount of counterfeit and substandard medicines worth about Tk 5 crore at Mitford in the Old Town of Dhaka.
A mobile court sentenced 20 medicine wholesalers to one year imprisonment each, fined them Tk 1.25 crore and sealed off 28 wholesale shops. A total of 77 cases were filed against 103 medicine traders during the operation.
Traders of medicine, chemical and surgical equipment have alleged that the law enforcement agencies and drug administration had taken action against the wholesale and retail shops indiscriminately. They even snatched away legal and genuine medicines.
Patients experienced serious trouble as the drug shops in the emergency ward of the hospital were closed, said Zakir Hossain, director of Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital.
In Chittagong, medicine wholesale markets at Hazarigali, Bahaddarhaat, Jamalkhan and the Chittgong Medical College areas remained closed on the day.
In Sylhet, medicine traders at Shamsuddin Hospital, Stadium Market and Chowhatta areas kept their shutters down. However, pharmacies around the Osmani Medical College Hospital were open.
In Barisal, most medicine stores remained closed. However, two drug stores around the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital were kept open for emergency medical supplies.
In Rajshahi, all pharmacies remained closed on the day. However, medicines were available at the association’s office in the Rajshahi Medical College area.
-With New Age input
