370 pharmacy owners sued over expired drugs 

The authorities have sued the owners of 370 pharmacies in last six months on charge of keeping expired drugs, according to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA). 

Several pharmacy owners were sent to jail, said Md Mahbubur Rahman, director general of the DGDA, at a press conference on Thursday.

“We also deposited Tk57 lakh to the government exchequer collected as fine,” he further said.

On June 10, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection said it found expired drugs in 93 percent of the pharmacies in the capital where it conducted drives over six months.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque, meanwhile, faced a volley of tough questions from journalists for his ministry’s failure to take effective measures to prevent the sale of expired medicines. 

“We are keeping strong vigil on pharmacies to stop sales of expired medicines,” Maleque told the press conference organised at his ministry on the National Vitamin A-plus campaign.

The campaign will be observed across Bangladesh on June 22, aiming to feed vitamin A-plus capsules to children between six and fifty-nine months of age.

He said the ministry will arrange another press conference on the sale of expired medicines.