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12-hr Strike of Medicine Traders

Patients take the brunt

Star report
People suffered immensely as medicine stores across the country remained closed for about twelve hours yesterday because of a strike of drug traders in protest at Saturday's mobile court drive against unauthorised medicines.
Badshah Mia, father of a seven-year-old blood cancer patient, came all the way from Kushtia with his son Mushfiqur Rahman for his chemotherapy at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
He looked exhausted by the frantic moves from one drug store to another in search of the medicines needed for the
treatment.
Every 15 days, Badshah has to bring his son to Dhaka for chemotherapy. He said he usually bought the medicines from Shahbagh or Mitford.
"His [Mushfiq] chemo was scheduled for Thursday, but if I don't find the medicines, it will be deferred to Friday morning," he said, adding that doctors and nurses would be hardly available on weekends.
Long queues were seen in front of the few emergency medicine shops at public hospitals, which were open.
Ratul Karim, 13, from Mirpur-2, came to the National Institute of Orthopaedics,
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Traumatology and Rehabilitation (Nitor) to fix his broken thumb.
He was standing in the queue before the emergency drug store at Shishu Hospital.
"I need to buy this medicine 'splint thumb' but it is not available in the emergency drug store in Nitor and so I came here," Ratul said.
However, medicine shops in front of DMCH were open till 11:45am because of the prime minister's visit to the hospital yesterday.
After she left, the shops pulled down the shutters.
In Chittagong city, Rifat Sultana, mother of a 13-year old, searched for antibiotics for her son, who was suffering from fever.
Running from one area to another for hours, she could not find any of the city's 2,700 pharmacies open, reported our Chittagongoffice.
Swapna, aged 22 and awaiting childbirth, had to be shifted hurriedly from Jamalpur General Hospital to Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital as the medicines required for her delivery were not available, reports our Jamalpur correspondent.
Similar cases were reported by correspondents across the country. People went from remote areas to the district towns to buy medicines but returned empty handed.
Responding to people's sufferings and following an assurance by the government that their demands would be met, medicine traders opened their pharmacies at 6:00pm.
Earlier on Monday, the Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Samity called the 16-hour strike following a protest by drug traders of Dhaka's Mitford,
Babubazar and Islampur areas over a mobile court drive in the areas on Saturday.
"We have withdrawn our strike after a fruitful meeting with the government," said Md Sadequr Rahman, president of the Samity.
In the meeting with the officials of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) from 10:00am to 12:00noon, it was decided that the drug traders arrested on September 28 would be released before Eid-ul-Azha, the sealed shops would be reopened and the list of the medicines and appliances seized would be submitted by next week, Sadequr said.
He said the seizure lists would help traders realise the money, which they paid as fines for keeping those drugs at their stores, from the manufacturing companies.
DGDA will also provide them with the latest gazette notification of the list of approved drug manufacturers and importers, Sadequr added.
The medicine traders had claimed that they sold drugs of unauthorised companies because they were not informed about the government notifications issued in the last 20 years.
Talking to The Daily Star, Jahangir Hossain Mollik, chief of DGDA, said, "We have reached a consensus that the drive against fake and counterfeit medicines will continue."
Regarding the release of the arrestees, he said steps would be taken to ensure their bails before the Eid festival.
Sadequr, however, told The Daily Star that the traders would call an indefinite strike if the demands were not met as promised by the government.