DHAKA: About 50 percent sellers at pharmacy shops sell antibiotics to patients violating National Drug Policy’s prohibition of antibiotic sale without doctor’s prescriptions.

This shocking data was revealed by a research on the prescription of patients, who are attacked by acute respiratory infection (ARI).

The International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) released the research on Tuesday.

Researchers cross-checked the data of 100 pharmacy shops at different places in city. Information was collected from the period of June to September in 2012.

 The study shows, 76 percent patients were provided with drugs. Of them, 37 get antibiotics while 39 get other medicines.

Some patients were primarily not given the antibiotics. Thirty percent of them colleted the drugs 3 or 4 days later as their illness are recovered.

Only 8 percent patients took the antibiotic according to doctor’s prescriptions while 6 percent were denied as they had no prescriptions.

Of the 100 pharmacy shops, 67 percent had the government licenses while the rest had no legal papers and documents.

The research suggests arrangement of training for the drugs sellers in coordination with officials of the government drug administration, health and family welfare ministry to lessen the misapplication of medicines.

BDST: 1346 HRS, AUG 26, 2014