Retrograde decision on drug policy

The government has cancelled the essential medicines list and drug pricing policy introduced by the interim government. As a result, the system has returned to the rules that applied three decades ago. If government oversight is weakened under these older rules, patients will end up spending more. This contradicts the current government’s election manifesto. The BNP promised to lower the prices of essential medicines and ensure free supplies of basic medicines and vaccines. The latest move does the opposite and will raise medicine costs. Since a large share of people’s medical spending goes on medicines, this decision will increase the financial pressure on ordinary citizens.

We have long called for proper control of medicine prices. The steps taken by the interim government after consultation with various groups were incomplete, yet they were still an urgent and positive advance. The present government has now cancelled even those measures.

The official reason given is that the 2026 Essential Medicines List and Pricing Policy were adopted without consulting the National Medicines Advisory Council. Because this legal requirement was not met, the cabinet has cancelled the list and policy and restored the pre-1994 rules. The question remains: when the present government cancelled the policy, did it itself follow the required consultation process? The current government has now made the same mistakes that the interim government has been accused of making.

Under the 1994 policy the essential medicines list contained 117 items. This rose to 285 in 2016 and to 295 in 2025 under the interim government. By cancelling the later lists and reverting to 1994, the number of essential medicines has been reduced that will cause extra hardship for ordinary people.

Section 11 of the 1982 Drug Control Ordinance gave the government power to set medicine prices. On that basis the Ministry of Health issued a 1993 gazette fixing prices for 739 medicines. A 1994 circular then limited government control to only 177 medicines and left pricing of the rest to manufacturers. Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh challenged that circular in a public-interest writ in 2018. In its judgment last August the court directed the government to set prices for life-saving medicines and publish them by gazette. The present government has ignored that order. This is wrong. We do not know on whose advice the government has taken such an anti-people decision. It runs counter both to its own promise of universal health care and to the demand for lower medical costs.

Many diseases that were once uncommon—diabetes, other non-communicable diseases and cancers—are now widespread. The medicines needed to treat them do not appear on a list drawn up three decades ago. People with lifelong conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney disease must take medicines continuously, so their costs will rise sharply.

A report published in Daily Samakal noted that the pharmaceutical industry association had objected to the new essential-medicines list and pricing system from the start. On June 30 the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries wrote to the Health Minister requesting an urgent meeting to review the policy. How much weight have these industry objections carried? The government’s duty is to protect the interests of ordinary people, reduce patients’ out-of-pocket spending and advance universal health coverage. Instead it has reversed the interim government’s list and pricing policy. Rather than building on the progress already made, it has taken a step backwards.

The government should reconsider. In the interests of ordinary citizens the interim government’s policies should be retained in this regard. Officials say a new committee will be formed to set medicine prices. That committee could work within the framework of the 2026 policy and adjust prices up or down as needed. The needs of ordinary people must come first when medicine prices are decided. A decision that contradicts the election manifesto is both unfair and unscientific.

Individuals already bear a large share of medical costs, and medicines form a major part of those costs. Government policy is therefore crucial in ensuring that essential medicines remain available and affordable. If the government fails to act, ordinary people will suffer. The aim should be to reduce, not increase, the medical burden on citizens and to move towards free treatment. Returning to the 1994 list of only 117 essential medicines is undesirable. The interim government expanded the list by 180 items and published a gazette of 295 medicines; the true need may be even greater. Other loopholes must also be closed—for example, companies marketing listed drugs under different names so they can set their own prices. The government has much work to do to ease medicine costs. Going backwards will leave these problems unresolved.

Writer: Dr Mushtaq Husain Public Health Expert

The article was originally published in the Samakal online Bengali edition and has been rewritten for the English version by Mohammed Humayun Kabir, Assistant News Editor