Robi Hossain regularly takes medicine due to asthma and breathing problems. A week ago, Montreal bought 10 mg of the drug from a drug store in Khilgaon area of the capital. After a day of consumption, he noticed that the medicine had expired three days ago. He was terrified about the matter. Robi Hossain said, "After consuming expired medicine, fear starts working in the mind. I am worried about whether any other complications or new problems are created in the body. I also think about whether I should tell the doctor or not, if the doctor asks why I ate, what will I answer! Many such thoughts crowded in my mind.
Many patients like Robi suffer from mental distress after consuming expired medicines. Expired medicines are being sold in numerous drug stores across the country including the capital. However, storage and sale of expired medicines is strictly prohibited. There are also instructions from the High Court on this. The Directorate General of Drug Administration also has strict instructions including canceling the registration of drug shops if they sell expired medicines. In order to stop the sale of expired medicines, sometimes the Department of Consumer Rights Protection or mobile court of the district administration raids drug stores across the country including the capital and imposes various penalties including fines. But still the sale of expired medicines in drug stores is not stopped. Many patients are taking health risks by buying expired medicines without knowing. Public health experts say that such drugs are a serious threat to public health. Because there is a possibility of side effects in the patient. Instead of getting better, you may face new health risks. Even taking expired medicines can lead to patient's death.
Talking to the patients, it is known that the medicine shops do not sell the medicine in whole leaves but cut the leaves into three or four and many times the expiry date is not found. Many people do not even know where the expiry date of the medicine is written. Many people are also unaware of the harm that can be caused by consuming expired medicines. Due to these reasons, various types of fear and confusion are created among those who come to know that they have consumed expired medicines.
According to the call center of the Consumer Rights Protection Department, in the last three months, they have received 513 complaints regarding expired, high prices and low quality medicines. Of these, 245 complaints related to drugs and saline were received in September. There were 166 drug-related complaints in October and 105 in November. Apart from this, 153 people have called to know various issues related to medicine in these three months. 60-70 percent of these complaints have been settled. The rest of the complaints are still pending.
Regarding how harmful expired medicines are to the patient's health, Dhaka University's associate professor AK Lutful Kabir said, 'Generally, patients take medicines to cure diseases. There is no point if the patient gets sicker by taking expired medicine. Expired medicines are ineffective and toxic. Which is very harmful for human body. Drug stores are prohibited from selling expired drugs. There are also directions for license forfeiture. Still, many drug stores are selling expired drugs which is not right at all. He said, "Chemicals used in making a drug have certain qualities and expiration dates. That is why the date of how long the drug can be used from the date of manufacture is also given. As a result, expired medicines lose their properties. For this reason, using expired medicines is harmful to public interest.
Dr. Munir Uddin Ahmad, former professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology Department of Dhaka University, said, "There is no need to panic if a patient consumes expired medicine. In general, the effectiveness of all drugs is dependent on light, heat, humidity and storage conditions. If the medicine is prepared following proper principles and kept in the prescribed environment, the medicine does not lose its effectiveness for a long time. If the drug is produced in liquid or injectable form, the effectiveness may be lost. Vitamin-like medicines do not produce much adverse reaction in the human body even if they are expired. Performance may be reduced. However, antibiotics should not be consumed if they are expired. Because if these medicines are not stored properly, the effectiveness is lost. Taking these expired life-saving medicines can lead to other crises, posing many risks to the patient's life.'
ARS
