Where lies the ultimate hope of survival for the ordinary people of a country? Surely, in their medical care and medicines. But when that basic element of survival is pushed beyond the reach of the general public to turn it into a tool for stuffing the pockets of a few businessmen, it no longer remains a mere policy failure—it becomes a supreme betrayal of millions of people.

Protecting Business Interests Behind Administrative Excuses

After 32 long years, when the essential drugs list was expanded from 117 to 297 in line with the modern realities of medical science, the ordinary people of the country harbored great hope. However, it did not take long for that ray of hope to fade. Citing a procedural excuse—that the "National Drug Advisory Council was not consulted"—the expanded list was scrapped in a sudden decision by the Cabinet on August 3. Yet, what a cruel truth lies behind this pretext! Dr. Zakir Ahmed Chowdhury, Chairman of the Department of Pharmacy at Dhaka University and a member of that council, himself clarified that the new government has not called a single meeting of the advisory council since its formation to date. On the very same charge of "lack of consultation" used to throw out the previous list, the current government made its decision while keeping the council completely in the dark, committing the exact same "error." It is crystal clear that this is not the correction of a legal flaw; rather, it is a blatant display of administrative power abuse to fulfill the long-standing demands of pharmaceutical merchants.

Returning to a 32-Year-Old List Means Pushing the Health Sector to Ruin

In the modern era, complex illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases are in every household. These complex and life-saving modern medicines were included in the interim government's list of 297 drugs so that the government could fix their prices. But today, the government pushed the country back to the outdated list of 117 drugs from 1994. When medical science and technology have transformed radically over the last 30 years, isn't returning to a three-decade-old list an extreme suicidal decision? According to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), only around 30 of those 117 drugs from 1994 are currently available in the domestic market. The remaining drugs are not even in production anymore! In other words, based on this list, ordinary people will get no affordable or effective medicines. As a result, the exclusive power to determine the prices of modern drugs in the market has once again shifted to syndicates and pharmaceutical companies.

Lack of Oversight and the Whip on the Middle Class and the Poor

The government's institutional capacity to monitor drug prices in our country's health sector is already weak. As highlighted by Dr. Sufiar Nahin Shimul, Director of the Institute of Health Economics at Dhaka University—even if a standard form of paracetamol is on the list, companies sell it at double the price by adding "Extra" or "Extended" tags. In the middle of this unregulated system, when the state retracts its hand from controlling the prices of 297 medicines, the exploitation of ordinary people reaches its absolute peak. Public health expert Mushtaq Hussain uncovered the truth quite effortlessly—if there were errors, they could have been rectified by forming an expert committee. But sending the entire policy to its grave proves that the commercial benefits of the pharmaceutical industry have been prioritized over the health of the general public.

Accountability Shrouded in Silence

With this single decision, the sighs of millions of low- and middle-income people in the country grow heavier. When a father has to cut down on his child's education expenses to buy daily required medicines, where does the state's social security lie? What is even more alarming is that no one in charge of the Ministry of Health is speaking out about this. Despite repeated attempts to contact them, the government's silence signals that they lack the nerve to face the public's courtroom. Playing with the lives of millions behind the veil of administrative maneuvers must stop immediately. Public health cannot be an arena for corporate profit. Under no pretext can the ordinary people of the country be held hostage by pharmaceutical companies.

Author: Dr. Abul Hasnat Milton, Journalist, Political Analyst, and Chief Editor, The Source News Bangla