National drug policy of Bangladesh: some pitfalls in implementation

Drug development, manufacturing and marketing have become one of the most important sectors throughout the world for various reasons. Realizing its importance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed the need of a formulated drug policy in every country of the world. Bangladesh responded very early to this. Experiences over the decades have shown that the said policy could not fulfill in toto the declared objectives. Our aim is to describe some of the lacunae for which total implementation of drug policy is still struggling. For this purpose, we meticulously analysed our Drugs Control Ordinance 1982 (with an amendment brought in 1994) and upcoming National Drug Policy. We mainly focussed on three factors pointed out by WHO, which are crucial of a drug policy, which include price limitation, quality and rational use. We found great variations in price which need to be controlled. Regarding quality, safety and efficacy, we have to be more cautious. Rational use of drugs is also an area to be focussed on. Every physician should prescribe proper drug with due indication and in rational way. This pitfall of implementation might happen in many countries of the world and it needs a global discussion so that the future policy makers can mitigate the demand of the nation.