High Court orders no Vitamin A capsules for children without trials

The High Court has ordered the government not to distribute Vitamin A capsules among children without clinical trials.

A bench of justices Sheikh Hassan Arif and Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman on Wednesday delivered the rule on its own volition taking cognisance of a newspaper report.

The health secretary, the director general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration and others related to the issue will carry out the order.

The court also issued a rule asking why the distribution of red and black varieties of Vitamin A capsules will not be declared illegal.

It ordered the relevant authorities to come up with explanations by four weeks.

According to a recent report run by a Bangla-language daily, the government has been procuring and distributing these capsules since the 70s.

In 2012, about 100 million such capsules were distributed among children across Bangladesh, but no clinical trials were run beforehand.

It further said the health department was procuring a further 36.5 million capsules for distribution as a part of the government's Vitamin A capsule campaign.

Children between the age of 6 months and 5 years will provided with such capsules.