A splendid invention!
In a country where incidents of acid attacks are highest in the world, where thousands die and thousands more are permanently disabled by burn injuries ever year, the news of a Bangladeshi scientist's invention to sooth such wounds is heart-warming.
Dr. Azam Ali, based in New Zealand, has invented a bio-based wound dressing which cures severe wounds more effectively and 40 percent faster than any other medicine currently available. The scientist has expressed hope that, due to the availability of natural raw materials in Bangladesh, the product has bright prospects in our country and talks are on with a local pharmaceutical company concerning launch of the product here.
Ali's winning the Bayer Innovation of the Year Award for 2010 -- along with Hawaii-based Dr. Maqsudul Alam's jute genome sequencing, USA-based Dr. Ahmed Salahuddin's cyclone prediction technology and USA-based Dr. Anis Rahman's winning of the NASA Innovator Award, all in the last few years -- obviously raises questions about the state of scientific research in our own country. While there is potential, as is proven by Ali's local public university background, significant inventions have been few and far between. The reason lies in the failure to patent our inventions, due to lack of funding, specifically, government sponsorship. Related to this is the little value placed upon scientific research in our country, resulting in our own brains seeking and finding research opportunities abroad where their work is supported by foreign governments and academic institutions.
Market development opportunities, favoured access to export markets, abundant supply of skilled labour and high quality, low cost of manufacturing makes the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh a budding one with great potential, but without research and innovation, its growth remains restricted. We hope that the government will rightly value and patronise scientific research for human development and betterment.
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