Storage facilities for pharmaceutical and health commodities have remained poor in the country, and an investment of Tk100 million is needed to improve the situation, according to a survey report.
The report titled “Health Sector Development Programme Assessment of Storage Capacity and Conditions for Health Commodities in Bangladesh 2014” was submitted to Ayubur Rahman Khan, additional secretary (development and medical education) and line director of physical facilities development, by the World Bank office in Dhaka on August 21.
Health, family planning and Expanded Immunisation Programme (EPI) are the three supply chains of pharmaceutical and health products. According to the report, 46% of health stores had roof leak or water pipe problems. 55% of the health stores, 25% of family planning and 35% of the EPI stores had damaged ceilings.
Besides, 49% of the stores did not have a functioning fan. None of health or EPI stores had air conditioning facilities while only 5% of family planning stores had the facility.
A mere 18% of the health stores had a functioning fridge. Moreover 64% of the health, 60% of the EPI and 42% of family planning stores were never cleaned, and obsolete or unusable items were not disposed of.
Pharmaceutical products are sensitive to temperature, humidity and contamination, and degrade and lose efficacy over time. In order to prevent loss of quality of the products, proper physical conditions of the building of the stores, light, ventilation, air conditioners, freezers, shelves, power, water and sanitation facilities have to be ensured.
The survey was jointly conducted by the Directorate General of Drug Administration, Directorate General of Health Services, Directorate General of Family Planning, the EPI, Central Medicine Stores Depot and the World Bank.
Selim Barami, a DGDA director, told the Dhaka Tribune the survey was conducted to get a better understanding of the existing challenges and issues relating to storage facilities.
“The main goal is to ensure that the products are stored in the recommended condition to ensure their quality, efficacy and safety. This will result in improved health outcomes,” he said.
The report said the CMSD is a big complex divided into smaller rooms but the only part of the storage in the building which is air conditioned is a big store room. The room measures 17,000 square feet with a low ceiling of approximately 10 feet. It is overloaded with pharmaceutical products while the ceiling is old and partly falling down, dusting the products.
The main warehouse of family planning measures 18,000 square feet. It has three-level steel racks in most of the area. There is no cooling mechanism and the store has metal walls without insulation. The cement floor is fragile and does not hold the forklifts well. The 26-year-old metal roof needs to be replaced. Temperature inside the warehouse goes beyond 40 degrees Celsius in the hot season and lasts two to three months.
The central EPI and management of the EPI program are physically together in what used to be a three-storey building with parking at the bottom of the building. The parking space at present is filled with 22 cold rooms with a total capacity of 19,000 cubic feet, with a freezer capacity of 4,000 cubic feet.
The cold rooms and the freezer are protected against the weather but are not located inside the temperature-controlled area. Temperature immediately outside the cold rooms can reach 40 degrees Celsius in the hot season, and there is no real storage area apart from the cold rooms.
It was learnt that health has four regional stores but due to decentralisation of the flow of health products, those are not in use anymore. Family planning has 22 regional stores, with three substantially bigger than the rest. Challenges exist in terms of store rooms being in bad shape and without air-conditioning facilities. There are also problems with space, but less than the health and the epi.
The EPI and health stores at district level are in poor condition.
