The Health Minister Zahid Malik on Thursday refuted the news that headlined ‘93 percent pharmacies in Dhaka keep expired medicines’. The Minister contested the claims of the deputy director of Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection that 93 percent of the pharmacies keep medicines which are not valid for consumption.
“The information about ‘93 percent of the pharmacies in the capital keep expired medicines’ is not correct, the minister said while addressing a press conference on ‘Vitamin A capsule campaign at his Secretariat office in the city adding, “Directorate General of Drug Administration strictly monitors whether date expired or fake medicines are being stored at pharmacies across the country. Besides, we also monitor the overall drug chain.”
Earlier, Manzur Mohammad Shahriar, a deputy director of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection at a programme had disclosed that some 93 percent of the pharmacies in the capital keep expiry date medicines. Following the media report, the High Court (HC) on Tuesday ordered the government to remove and destroy all date-expired drugs from the market within a month.
Meanwhile, the national Vitamin ‘A’ plus administering campaign will begin from tomorrow (saturday) across the country where children, aged between six months to 59 months, will be given Vitamin A capsules under the nationwide campaign on the day. BSS adds: The Health Minister said that the health workers and volunteers will administer the vitamin-A Plus capsules from 1.20 lakh permanent and 20 thousand mobile centres across the country which will remain open from 8 am to 4 pm.
He said mobile centres will be set up at bus stops, airports and launch terminals and other transport points to administer the children vitamin-A plus capsules. The Minister also said, “We want to prevent childhood blindness by administering vitamin-A plus capsule. Blindness problem has been reduced significantly in the country through launching vitamin A plus campaign. Less than one percent children now suffer from blindness related to vitamin A deficiency.”
Among the total children, around 25 lakh aged between six to 11 months will be fed one blue colour Vitamin-A capsule each, while around 1.94 crore babies aged between 12 to 59 months would be fed red color capsules. Parents are requested to bring their children with full stomach before being fed the Vitamin-A capsule. Children should not be fed the capsule forcefully or while they are crying. Children aged below six months or more than five years or with any kind of sickness should not be fed the capsules.
Feeding of Vitamin-A capsule not only keep the children safe from night- blindness, it also increases their immune system, keep their eyesight perfect, bring down the child mortality rate and ensure their natural growth among other benefits. “We are feeding vitamin A plus capsule two times a year as it deposits up to six months in children’s body. Alongside having vitamin A plus capsule, guardians should feed their children natural food including vegetable and fish to avoid vitamin A deficiency,” the minister added.
