DHAKA NEWS
Dhaka, Feb 26 Patients are not getting all drugs from the hospitals despite their being available, the health minister on Sunday said and blamed it on the hospital store-keepers.
"I saw patients buying drugs from outside with hospital's prescriptions. Later I found those drugs in the store. They were supposed to get it free. But the store-keeper told them there is no supply," AFM Ruhal Haque said while opening a scientific seminar in the capital, after a two-day visit to hospitals in the southern districts.
"They maintain ties with drug shops outside and tell patients there are no drugs," he said.
The minister claimed that after government-supplied drugs were packaged in national bi-colours, no-one could sell those drugs in the open market.
As pilferage of government supplied drugs from the hospitals was widespread across Bangladesh, the government in 2010 had introduced national bi-colour packaging for their supplied drugs.
A Development Organisation for the Rural Poor (DORP) researcher Zobair Hasan, who monitors upazilla health service delivery system, said he also found many drugs expire in the hospitals.
"Store-keepers do not let people know the actual situation of drug supply," he told and added that they took the new approach when they found it hard to sell drugs outside after new colour packaging.
"You will find many drug shops (pharmacy) adjacent to every upazilla hospital. They (store-keepers) maintain links with them," he said. Hasan added that as store-keepers are locally recruited and cannot be transferred, no one dares to move against them.
He suggested: "Let the people be informed what types of drugs in what quantities are available in the hospital."
"The hospital can hang a chart in front of the outdoor. If people know about the availability, they would not be cheated."
The minister in his surprise visits to few upazilla hospitals on Thursday and Friday noticed different anomalies and ordered departmental measures against the offenders.
"I saw patients buying drugs from outside with hospital's prescriptions. Later I found those drugs in the store. They were supposed to get it free. But the store-keeper told them there is no supply," AFM Ruhal Haque said while opening a scientific seminar in the capital, after a two-day visit to hospitals in the southern districts.
"They maintain ties with drug shops outside and tell patients there are no drugs," he said.
The minister claimed that after government-supplied drugs were packaged in national bi-colours, no-one could sell those drugs in the open market.
As pilferage of government supplied drugs from the hospitals was widespread across Bangladesh, the government in 2010 had introduced national bi-colour packaging for their supplied drugs.
A Development Organisation for the Rural Poor (DORP) researcher Zobair Hasan, who monitors upazilla health service delivery system, said he also found many drugs expire in the hospitals.
"Store-keepers do not let people know the actual situation of drug supply," he told and added that they took the new approach when they found it hard to sell drugs outside after new colour packaging.
"You will find many drug shops (pharmacy) adjacent to every upazilla hospital. They (store-keepers) maintain links with them," he said. Hasan added that as store-keepers are locally recruited and cannot be transferred, no one dares to move against them.
He suggested: "Let the people be informed what types of drugs in what quantities are available in the hospital."
"The hospital can hang a chart in front of the outdoor. If people know about the availability, they would not be cheated."
The minister in his surprise visits to few upazilla hospitals on Thursday and Friday noticed different anomalies and ordered departmental measures against the offenders.
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