Bangladesh to introduce ‘model pharmacy’ to stop fake drug sales

The drug control agency is going to introduce “model pharmacy” for preventing fake drug sales in Bangladesh.

Director General of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) Maj Gen Md Mustafizur Rahman said on Wednesday  they had prepared a guideline for the “pilot” initiative.

“We hope to cover at least 150 ‘A grade’ pharmacies and 2000 ‘B grade’ pharmacies by this year,” he said at a press briefing at the DGDA.

“Those shops will sell drugs complying with all standards including appointment of graduate pharmacists. They will also brief customers about the drugs they sell. It’ll be a public-private partnership,” he said.

“If successful, we’ll spread it across Bangladesh gradually.”

He hoped the measure will prevent the sale of fake or counterfeit drugs.

The press briefing was organised on the recent High Court order on stopping production of all drugs of 20 pharmaceutical companies and antibiotics of 14 others.

The director general said they had executed the order and stopped production.

The Drug Administration has over 120, 000 licensed pharmacies across Bangladesh.

‘A’ grade pharmacies are required to have graduate pharmacists while the ‘B’ grades have diploma pharmacists, apart from structural differences.

A Director of the DGDA, Md Ruhul Amin, was also present at the press conference.