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22:42 PM, 30 April 2024
Medicines lose quality in heat wave, public health at risk
For the last two weeks heat wave is going on all over the country. In this condition, it is not possible to store the medicine at the prescribed temperature in the store. Due to lack of proper storage
system, the quality of medicines available in various pharmacies and shops is decreasing. Experts say public health is threatened by medicines losing effectiveness due to temperature.
On the surface, visiting different drug stores in the capital, about 90 percent of drugs have instructions to be kept at a temperature of 20 to 30 degrees Celsius in the instructions or packaging. However, due to the heat wave of the last few weeks, traders are not able to store medicines in accordance with the guidelines.
Most pharmacies do not have air conditioning (AC) except for a few model pharmacies. In the rest, there is no cold chain system for storing medicines except fans and refrigerators. In this situation, the quality of necessary medical supplies like antibiotics, insulin, vaccinations, ointments, gels, food supplements, diagnosis kits is losing. There is even a growing fear of the medicine being completely wasted.
On Tuesday afternoon, Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMH) area, Moghbazar, Banglamotor and other areas were visited. A handful of shops have cold chain air conditioning systems. Apart from this, at least half a hundred shops do not have this system.
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Same is the case at the pharmacy adjacent to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). Many store workers are not aware that there are certain temperature requirements for storing medicines. However, most of them have refrigerators.
The owner of medicine corner adjacent to the emergency department gate of Dhamek Hospital. Shaukat Ali told the news that the patients have no complaints about the medicine. Although the packaging of the medicine says to store it at 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, the company has not said that it will spoil. 24 hours without fan in this summer. Some medicines like suppositories are kept in the refrigerator. Many times patients also come and request to keep the suppository in the fridge. We do not charge anything in return.
Antibiotics and other life-saving medicines are not being stored at the right temperature during extreme heat waves. Photo Time News
Sharif Uddin, a salesman at United Drugs adjacent to BSMMU, said, "We know that the quality may decrease if the medicine is not stored at a certain temperature." But no one wants to increase the cost to survive in the competitive market. So I don't want to increase the cost by installing cold chain system or AC. But keep the sensitive medicine in the refrigerator.
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In this regard, Dr. Ekushey medalist medicine expert and emeritus professor. ABM Abdullah told the news that if the medicine is not stored at the right temperature, the medicine does not have quality or there is a risk of losing its effectiveness. Some medicines are very sensitive and need to be refrigerated. Antibiotics, different types of hormones,
blood products, which are biosimulation products i.e. biomolecular drugs are destroyed at high temperature. It can increase health risks. That is why he urged to increase the supervision of the administration in the pharmacy or drug store.
Mentioning that everyone should be advised to keep medicines at the right temperature, this expert said that many people buy more medicines and keep them at home. If they are also not stored properly, the quality of the medicine deteriorates. He urged the people, patients and victims to be alert in this regard.
According to the information of the Department of Drug Administration, the number of registered pharmacies or drug stores in the country is 232 thousand 535. Only 528 of them have air conditioning. Besides most of the stores are not storing the medicine at proper temperature.
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Ansarul Islam, Vice President of Bangladesh Society for Pharmaceutical Professionals (BSPP) and Executive Director of Supreme Pharmaceuticals, told Samy Sangamb that drug manufacturing companies have to maintain the quality of drugs in the production, storage and marketing stages.
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