Stop selling antibiotics over the counter

The government has warned the pharmacies of legal actions if they continue selling antibiotics without prescription.

In a public notice Tuesday, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) issued a set of directives for the medicine sellers and advice for the antibiotics users.

The DGDA, the apex drug regulatory authority, issued this notice a day after The Daily Star published a report detailing how antibiotics are still being sold over the counter despite a High Court ruling against the practice.

On April 25 last year, the HC ordered the DGDA to take steps to stop the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics.

In its notice, DGDA issued a four-point directive: pharmacies must not sell or distribute antibiotics without prescription from a registered doctor; must provide cash memo to the buyers; must maintain a register; and advise patients to complete full doses.

If these directives are not followed, legal actions could be taken against the medicine sellers, the DGDA warned.

It also advised the users to take antibiotics as prescribed by registered doctors, preserve cash memo and complete full course even if they feel better physically.

Lauding the DGDA notice, Prof Sayedur Rahman, chairman of pharmacology department at BSMMU, said,  “The wordings they [DGDA] have used showing that the responsibility lies with both the buyers and the sellers are indeed good.”

Talking to The Daily Star, he, however, suggested DGDA take some additional measures to increase antibiotics literacy.

“Problem is people don’t know which drugs are antibiotics. If the packets of the antibiotics are coloured red, then people would easily identify the drugs,” he added.

The fight against growing ineffectiveness of antibiotics, which is called anti-microbial resistance (AMR), requires a multi-sectoral approach, he said. “There is a need for coordination between different elements of the health sector -- medical education, healthcare providers, and others.”

If the DGDA could manage  to  have the doctors in upazilas do a two-hour campaign weekly, it would change the scenario rapidly, he added.

Bacteria-fighting drugs known as antibiotics help control and destroy many of the harmful organisms that make people sick. But overuse and misuse of antibiotics prompt some strains of bacteria to make a small change in their DNA and become antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”, experts say.

Globally, superbugs are responsible for seven lakh deaths each year; the number could be more than 10 million by 2050 if things go unchecked, according to WHO.