Narinjara News

Fake and Expired pharmaceuticals being imported from Bangladesh

Taknef, December 1: Bangladesh is exporting fake and expired pharmaceuticals into Burma at a reduced price, according to border sources. 

Through the long border between Burma and Bangladesh and via the seas, the local drug industry is cashing in on the drug shortages in Burma.

Inside Bangladesh, in the regions bordering Burma, there are more than 500 drug businesses some of them without a licence, and they are smuggling fake pharmaceuticals into Burma. 

Public healthcare is not available for the Burmese people who live in adjacent areas to Bangladesh, hence they have to rely on the private drug industry and they fall victim to the fake pharmaceuticals.

A local newspaper reporter, Mr Abdula Teepatuu from Taknef said that Taknef, Nila, Okira, Muresa are the centres of the drug smuggling. 

Those who are operating the drug businesses in these towns and villages do not have certificates to deal with the drugs and do not understand the danger of fake and expired drugs. 

In Bangladesh, a pharmacist has to be matriculated and trained at the School of Pharmacy, but most of those pharmacists operating in the border areas are not qualified personnel.

The main drug items that are smuggled into Burma are Paracetamol, Jasoquine, Ampicilline, Dexmethasone, Nikerthamine (Ampoules), Diclofanac, B1, B12, Hismice, Anoxyl, Depol, Dextro sodium and syringes, and most of them are fake or expired.

Due to the shortage of the drug supply and the high price of drugs imported from other countries like Thailand and India, the cheap and dangerous drugs from China and Bangladesh are used in Burma. #

For further information, please contact Narinjara:

Phone: 880 189 42 55 36, 880 111 39 38 6 (Mobile)

E-mail: narinjar@aitlbd.net

Full Narinjara archive in the Online Burma/Myanmar Library at

http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/admin/index.php?cat=1250&lo=d&sl=