Writ seeks ban on antibiotic sale sans experts’ suggestions

A writ petition was filed with the High Court on Wednesday seeking its directive to ban the sale of antibiotics in the country without prescriptions of specialist physicians, reports UNB.

Supreme Court lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman filed the writ attaching reports published in different newspapers, including British daily 'The Telegraph'.

The HC bench of justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and justice Razik-Al-Jalil is likely to hear the writ on Thursday, said Suman.

Directorate general of Drug Administration, all deputy commissioners and upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) of the country were made respondents to the writ.

The writ petitioner said pharmacies provide antibiotics to patients for diseases that need not those and due to excessive use, antibiotics do not work after a certain time.

At one stage, germs like bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them which is called antibiotic resistance.

Each year, around 700,000 people around the world die due to antibiotic resistance, Suman said citing a research of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Bangladesh is at stake due to excessive use of antibiotics in fodder, fish and agriculture, he said.

According to a Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) report, at least 55.7 per cent residents of the capital have already developed antibiotic resistance due to high level of antibiotic intake through agricultural items, Suman added.