The High Court is set to hear today the arguments in response to its ruling on distribution of vitamin A capsules among children below five years of age.
A seven-member committee, comprised of health experts and headed by Director General of Drug Administration Major General Jahangir Hossain Mollick, will present arguments seeking the court’s order to resume the distribution.
The High Court in its ruling on August 27 put a ban on distribution of the capsules. The court’s vacation bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Abu Taher Mohammad Saiful Rahman said there should be no further distribution before a clinical test was carried out.
Dr Md Shah Newaz, director of Institute of Public Health and Nutrition and member secretary of the seven-member committee, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday he was optimistic about the answer that would be presented today.
“We are expecting that the court will be entirely satisfied with our answer and will withdraw the ban on the distribution programme. The health directorate has been conducting the campaign for 43 years without a single record of fatality,” he said.
During the latest campaign, two types of vitamin A capsules were distributed – 50,000 unit among children aged six to 11 months and 200,000 unit among those aged 12 to 59 months. The capsules were distributed among more than 2.43 crore children.
“Once the prevalence of night blindness among children was 3.7%. The World Health Organisation says the prevalence, if remains over 1%, will be considered a public health problem. Now there is a mere 0.4% prevalence and the success is to be attributed to the continuous campaign of vitamin A capsules,” said Shah Newaz.
On August 27, the court also made a ruling asking why the distribution of red and blue Vitamin A capsules should not be declared illegal. The order came in the wake of a report on the distribution of the capsules published in a Bangla daily.
A member of the expert committee told the Dhaka Tribune there was no record of carrying out clinical test of vitamin capsules for children in any country. The head of the committee, he said, had produced written evidence in favour of the claim.
Shah Newaz said it was true but refused to give any further details.
Several members of the committee claimed the capsules distributed among children were safe, and there had been no reports of any problems after the last campaign which took place on April 5. They said the Central Medicine Store Depot (CMSD) purchases the capsules in a process that involves international tender.
The members also said the capsules were tested in a Singapore laboratory which has the World Health Organisation accreditation. Some randomly collected samples were sent by the CMSD for testing and reports were received on January 28 (soft copy) and March 20 (hard copy).
According to health experts, the ban on capsule distribution may lead to health hazards among children as they need regular doses to strengthen their immune system.
Shah Newaz said the next campaign would be run 30 to 45 days after the court withdraws the ban and orders resumption.
