The High Court on Wednesday issued a contempt of court rule against three top officials of the health authorities and two others on charge of ignoring its directives on halting production of substandard antibiotics.
The court directed the officials concerned to explain in four weeks why contempt of court proceedings should not be drawn against them over the matter.
The officials are Health Secretary Lokman Hossain Miah, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam, Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) Maj Gen Md Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) Babul Kumar Shaha and Managing Director of Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals Limited AFM Anwarul Haque.
The bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman issued the rule following a contempt of court petition filed by Advocate Ripan Barai on behalf of rights organization Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB).
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The HRPB had filed a writ petition in public interest to stop the production of antibiotics by 20 pharmaceutical companies including Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals of Barisal stating these companies did not follow the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) in the pharmaceutical industry.
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is a system for ensuring that products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards.
Following the final hearing of the writ petition, on February 13, 2017, the High Court directed the concerned officials of the health department not to allow these companies to produce medicine unless they adhere to GMP.
However, a contempt of court case was filed in the High Court on behalf of HRPB after news broke that Indo Bangla Pharmaceuticals in Barisal was illegally producing and selling antibiotics in defiance of the court order.
