Chattogram city and Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) officials on Monday raided the Central Skin and Social Hygiene Centre – also known as American Hospital – in the Agrabad area, and seized unregistered drugs worth Tk 6 lakh from three pharmacies located in front of the hospital gate.
The three pharmacies – Maa Pharmacy, Maa Medicare, and Swagata Pharmacy – stored unregistered medicines from India and China, and were fined Tk 20,000 each by the mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Prateek Dutta.
SM Sultanul Arefin, assistant director of the DGDA, Chattogram, said, “The drugs seized are not registered with the drug administration. No pharmacies are allowed to sell them legally, and no doctors can prescribe them.”
According to the owners of the three pharmacies, the unregistered medicines are being prescribed by the doctors at the hospital.
One of them said each foreign cream costs around Tk 1,000 – Tk 3,000, from which the doctor prescribing it gets a commission of Tk 200 – Tk 500. Moreover, patients of the hospital are asked to get tested in a lab called Mediliv.
Several patients said doctors prescribe medicines which are not available anywhere else except in the pharmacies located in front of the hospital. Their prescriptions also include various unregistered medicines.
Commenting on the issue, Executive Magistrate Prateek Dutta said, “These dishonest doctors will face action soon.”
