Apollo Hospitals in Dhaka fined for selling counterfeit drugs, keeping expired reagents

The mobile court also hit the private hospital in Bashundhara neighbourhood with a fine of another Tk 200,000 for keeping expired reagents in its laboratory on Monday.

After the drive in the afternoon, Executive Magistrate Sarwoer Alam told bdnews24.com they arrested one Delwar Hossain during an operation on a factory that produces counterfeit drugs in Gulshan’s Nikunja last Thursday.

The magistrate said Delwar admitted they had been making counterfeit drugs using names of foreign companies and supplying those to the Apollo Hospitals pharmacy for five years.

“We found some proofs and papers of transactions that this factory had been supplying counterfeit drugs to the Apollo Hospitals,” Sarwoer said.

The health ministry and the Directorate General of Drug Administration or DGDA conducted the coordinated drive at the hospital following information given by Delwar, the magistrate said.

They seized 30 types of drugs, including some for cancer and heart diseases.

He also said Apollo Hospitals ‘still owed’ Delwar Tk 700,000 in dues for the counterfeit drugs.

After the raid on the pharmacy, the RAB searched the laboratory of the hospital and found the expired reagents, the magistrate said.

Jamil Ahmed, a deputy general manager at the hospital, said they would brief the media about the drive on Wednesday.