Rid Pharma still out of dragnet
More than two weeks after Rid Pharmaceutical was sealed off, one more child died of renal failure in Rangpur yesterday after consumption of its toxic paracetamol syrup raising the death toll to 26.
The victim Rani died at home at around 8:00am yesterday, nine days after her renal failure.
Ten-month-old Rani, daughter of Shafiqul Islam of Syedpur under Pirgachha upazila, had been fighting for life since July 26 after she took paracetamol syrup of Rid Pharmaceutical as per the prescription of village doctor Syedur Rahman.
As many as 25 children died of renal failure in July in two hospitals in Dhaka after taking toxic syrup of Rid, a Brahmanbaria-based drug company, prompting the government to seal off the company's factory on July 22.
Later an official probe on July 29 found the presence of toxic compound in Rid's syrup but the Drug Administration (DA) is allegedly buying time in prosecuting the company.
Drug authorities said since it didn't have any lawyer, the progress of filing a case against Rid Pharmaceutical slowed down.
DA Director Brig Gen Ismail Hossain Thursday said, "By this afternoon we shall be able to reach a decision on filing of the case."
He hoped they would be able to file a case within three days.
He, however, told The Daily Star on August 2 that the DA would file a case against the drug company the following day.
"It is an urgent need to appoint lawyers to this drug regulatory body," said the director.
The authorities said some 45 cases have been filed with the Drug Court over the last two years while 221 cases with the Magistrate Court. But no cases have been disposed of till date.
Deputy Director of the administration AA Salim Barami told The Daily Star that the DA is supposed to monitor around 246 licensed allopathic drug companies besides hundreds of unany, ayurvedic and homeopathic ones.
The DA suffering from shortage of manpower is supposed to collect samples from the market, send those for testing and even register the new companies, he added.
The authorities also informed that a proposal had been sent to the health ministry to recruit 750 more people to run the administration properly and to protect the drug market of the country.
However, the proposal is now awaiting approval of the establishment ministry.
The last recruitment took place in 1996 and every year a total of 12 employees go on retirement.
Soon after submission of the probe committee report, Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque told reporters that the government would take legal actions against the company immediately but no action has been taken against it.
Currently drug-related offences are tried under the Drug Act 1940 and 1982 Drug Control Ordinance that cover issues like fake licence, adulteration, and spurious, unregistered and low quality drugs.
Our Rangpur correspondent reports: Parents of 10-month-old Rani gave her the syrup. A local pharmacy sold the syrup to them on July 26.
Her parents had to take her home on August 4 from Rangpur Medical College Hospital since they could not afford to take her to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka, which the doctors suggested.
Locals said village doctor Syedur Rahman had been on the run for three days and the pharmacy at Syedpur Bazar that sold the paracetamol syrup of Rid to Rani's parents on July 26 had remained closed after the death of the kid.
Even though the product was supposed to be withdrawn from all pharmacies across the country as per the government directive, authorities concerned at district level are yet to take any initiative in this regard.
When asked Civil Surgeon of Rangpur Dr Reazul Islam said he directed drug superintendent of Rangpur to ensure withdrawal of Rid's paracetamol syrup from all pharmacies as per the government direction.
He said, “A team led by the drug superintendent launched a drive in the markets in search of Rid's paracetamol but failed to get any.”
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