Rid Pharma case hearing today
The hearing of a case against Rid Pharmaceutical Limited's bosses on charge of manufacturing drugs lacking specified standards will be held at District and Sessions Judge A S N Mustafa's Court today.
Abdul Khayer Chowdhury, assistant director of Bangladesh Drug Administration's (BDA) Comilla zone, filed the case at Brahmanbaria Court accusing five officials of Rid Pharma on August 11. Three other cases were filed in Sylhet, Comilla and Narayanganj as well.
The accused are Rid Pharma MD Mizanur Rahman, directors Sheuli Rahman, also Mizanur's wife, Abdul Gani and Rid's pharmacists Mahbubul Islam and Enamul Haque who are now at large.
Brig Gen Ismail Hossain, Director of BDA, said to The Daily Star that BDA would file a case under the Special Powers Act against Rid Pharma this week after consultation with the ministries of law and home affairs.
But the drug regulatory authority is yet to sit with the joint secretary of home affairs ministry.
Earlier, a total of 34 children sought admission at Dhaka Shishu Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University since last two months and 26 of them died of renal failure.
A seven-member investigation committee, formed on July 21, found Rid Pharma guilty and revealed the company used poisonous diethylene glycol instead of propylene glycol that led to death of most of those children.
Abdul Khayer Chowdhury locked and sealed Rid Pharma's factory at BSCIC area of Brahmanbaria on July 22, following an order from the health ministry.
He said, its other drugs -- Temset and Ridaplex syrups -- was proved "out of quality" at the Drug Testing Laboratory of the Public Health Institute at Mohakhali.
Meanwhile, two more children with acute renal failure were admitted to Dhaka Shishu Hospital last week after receiving Rid Pharma's paracetamol syrup. Parents bought that drugs from village doctors though BDA claimed that they had withdrawn all Rid Pharma products from market soon after government's order on July 22.
Rid Pharma received drug-manufacturing licence in 2006 and started marketing 12 drugs. Though it only had permission for manufacturing paracetamol suspensions, it started producing paracetamol syrups in the package of paracetamol suspensions.
In 1992, at least 339 children died after taking toxic paracetamol. The government had then cancelled registrations of five pharmaceutical companies.
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