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Every year, BAPA members and their families get together at this professional yet fun-filled event, commonly called “BAPA Convention”. Some attend continuing education courses required for the maintenance of Pharmacist Licensure, while others join scientific seminars covering almost all areas of drug development and commercialization. But, it also provides a great opportunity to network with members, distinguished guests and their families.
The theme of this year’s convention is Pharmacy Profession in the USA and Bangladesh. Pharmacy education started in Bangladesh in the 60’s. Unfortunately, Pharmacist profession in Bangladesh is yet to be defined. Although there is no statistics on the impact of uncontrolled dispensing on public health, we are almost definite that the historical dispensing practice in Bangladesh has been causing wide varieties of healthcare problems. We believe that this should be studied with an aim to develop a system that is appropriate for Bangladesh.
It is encouraging to see the significant growth of pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh over the last several years. However, we believe that there are significant opportunities for further improvement and development in the pharmaceuticals sector. Despite significant growth of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Bangladesh, supply of safe, effective and quality medicines is not fully defined as required by global standards. There are improvement and development opportunities that would benefit the general public who deserves safe, effective and quality medicines, as well as local industry to compete in the global market.
Regulatory standards and oversights in the country of origin play significant role for acceptability of imported drugs in regulated countries. For Bangladesh, regulatory reforms are long overdue. There are significant gaps in the regulatory standards and infrastructure. Correcting these gaps will open up foreign collaboration and investment, reduce barriers to export to major global markets and most importantly improve the quality of drugs benefitting public health in Bangladesh.
Murad Husain, MS, RPh
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