Regular monitoring will be done to stop antibiotic sales without prescription

Director General (Additional Secretary) of the Directorate General of Drug Administration Md Alamgir Hossain has stressed strengthening surveillance at the pharmacy level and ensuring drug distribution through trained pharmacists to prevent the uncontrolled use of antibiotics in the country.

He said this at a discussion meeting organised by the Pharmacovigilance Division of the Directorate General of Drug Administration on the occasion of ‘World Patient Safety Day 2026’ on Thursday.

Alamgir Hossain said there are more than two lakh pharmacies in the country. If these institutions cannot be brought under proper supervision, it will be difficult to control the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs. Because many patients buy antibiotics from pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription.

He informed that several steps are already being implemented to ensure proper drug management in pharmacies. These include keeping the good pharmacy management system operational, strengthening the responsible use of antibiotics programme and bringing the pharmacies under the digital supervision system.

Informing that a strict policy is also being followed in the advertising and sale of antibiotics, the director general said antibiotics cannot be sold without a doctor’s prescription. Regular monitoring as well as necessary legal measures will be taken to make this rule effective.

He said it is not possible to stop the sale of antibiotics without prescription only by conducting operations. For this professional pharmacists must be ensured in the pharmacies. Pharmacists have an important role in verifying the prescription before giving medicine to the patient, advising on the use of medicine and preserving the patient’s medicine-related information.

Mentioning that there is a major shortfall in the pharmacy management of the country, Alamgir Hossain said there is no opportunity to operate pharmacies without pharmacists in various countries of Asia including India and Malaysia. A pharmacist knows which medicine to give to which patient in what way, what advice to give on the use of medicine and which medicine cannot be sold without prescription.

However, the situation is different in Bangladesh. At present to address the crisis ‘C grade pharmacists’ are being created through a three-month course and attached to the pharmacies. He informed that many of these pharmacists do not have adequate knowledge about antibiotics.

The director general of drug administration also stressed the appointment of pharmacists in government hospitals. In his opinion, if pharmacists can be made to distribute medicines, give necessary advice to patients, preserve medicine-related information and analyse prescriptions, the misuse of medicines can be reduced a lot. He informed that the matter is being repeatedly informed at the policy-making level of the government as well.

At the discussion meeting Director (Pharmacovigilance) of the Directorate General of Drug Administration Dr Md Akhtar Hossain said possible medicine-related risks can be identified through quickly collecting and reporting information on adverse reactions after the use of medicines, analysing those information and assessing the risks. Pharmacovigilance plays an important role in ensuring the safety of patients.