Drug Price Hike by Nearly 50 Percent
Pharmaceuticals using political violence as diversion
Janashastha Sangram Parishad rally told
Taking advantage of the distraction created by the political violence, profiteering pharmaceutical companies have arbitrarily increased prices of many widely used lifesaving drugs significantly, hoping that it would go unnoticed, speakers told a protest rally yesterday.
The recent hike, nearly 50 percent, affected anti-ulcerants, antibiotics, muscle relaxants and bronchodilators but the government could not care less about the burden of overpriced drugs on people because it is busy preparing itself for the one-sided election, they said.
The rally was organised by Janashastha Sangram Parishad (JSP), a citizens’ forum to protect health rights, before the capital’s Jatiya Press Club.
People are being held hostage to the whims of the syndicate of a few pharmaceutical companies while the government bodies tasked with reining in the prices are doing nothing, they said.
The Directorate General of Drug Administration, the government body to control prices and quality of drugs, claims that they have no control over the matter, said JSP Convener Dr Faizul Alam Lala.
“The people will soon control the prices through organising a mass movement,” he said.
“Although the two parties disagree with each other on most issues, they seem to be on the same boat regarding the prices of medication,” said Razekuzzaman Ratan, central committee member of Socialist Party of Bangladesh.
Calling on the people to protest the price hike, he said, “If we accept these irrational prices, the companies will go for a hike again.”
-With The Daily Star input
