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Paracetamol Tragedy

Culprits to be punished, units to be shut down

Staff Correspondent
Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque yesterday warned that the government would close down those drug companies, which are producing counterfeit drugs.
He said this while visiting a city drug laboratory where the
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samples of controversial paracetamol syrups have been sent for testing following the deaths of about 25 children after taking those in the last one and a half months.
“I was present at the laboratory when some drug samples were being examined, but I can not disclose the result now for the sake of getting reports from other laboratories,” Ruhal Haque told The Daily Star.
Those who are responsible for producing fake paracetamols would be given maximum punishment as per lawof the land, he said.
The health minister at an interview to a private television channel also said, “People who have played games with the lives of people would not be spared."
He said the government has taken immediate steps for arranging the laboratory test of the paracetamol syrups following deaths of children after taking drugs of some companies.
Ruhal Haque said each of the samples collected from different companies is being kept after coding so that no one can manipulate the result
from the test and publish any biased report.
Meanwhile, the sevenmember committee, formed to investigate the deaths of the 25 children, yesterday took two more days to submit report to the health ministry, said convener of the committee Abdul Jalil, also joint secretary (hospital).
The committee yesterday visited five children who are undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital and Dhaka Shishu Hospital.
The Drug Administration has sent 350 samples of paracetamol to the drug testing laboratory (DTL) at Mohakhali and three other laboratories including Essential Drugs Company Limited, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Abul Khayer, head of the DTL, told The Daily Star that the Drug Administration has sent only two samples of Rid Pharma --paracetamol and vitamin syrups--for testing. It will take a week to find out whether diethylene glycol was used in the paracetamol that killed the 25 children or not.