http://newagebd.com/2008/may/10/front.html#17
New Age, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Oral saline prices increase again as diarrhoea keeps spreading
By Alpha Arzu
The prices of oral rehydration saline have increased for the second
time in about a week, hampering the treatment of patients of water-
borne diseases.
Relatives of such patients and residents of low-lying areas in
Dhaka said the price of ORS, which was Tk 50 for a 20-sachet packet a
few days ago, had increased to Tk 65 to Tk 70 in the wholesale market.
Shaila Begum, a relative of a diarrhoea patient admitted to the
ICDDR,B hospital on Thursday, said, =91ORS sold for Tk 3 per sachet a
few days ago. The price has now just doubled. Six of my family members
have contracted diarrhoea and I need at least ten ORS sachets a day,=92
she said.
The patients are mainly from poor families, and most of them are
children suffering from the various diarrhoeal diseases that have
spread since last month and killed 17 in thirty days and afflicted
64,134 people, said the control room of the Directorate-General of
Health Services.
Ja****m, a resident of Mirpur from where a large number of patients
come to the ICDDR,B hospital, told New Age on Thursday, =91I bought ten
sachets of ORS for Tk 60. The price was Tk 3 to 5 in March.=92
Shumon, a salesman of Medicine Corner in Moghbazar, said they had
bought the saline packets at a high price from the wholesalers, so
they had to increase the retail price.
Due to the short supply and price-hike of ORS, diarrhoea has been
still spreading over the last few days and patients coming from very
poor families are not being given an adequate supply of oral saline.
The oral saline of the Social Marketing Company, which produces
about 60 per cent of the country=92s requirement, as well as those of
around 15 other companies are now selling at much higher prices.
Moreover, it was found after visiting some of the city=92s shops that
SMC=92s saline is not available in some areas.
Wholesalers in Mitford, the capital=92s major drug market, were
selling SMC=92s saline at Tk 65 per packet (consisting of 20 small
sachets) for the past couple of weeks though the maximum retail price
was fixed at Tk 60.
=91We have been buying SMC=92s oral saline from Mitford at a higher
price over the last few weeks as its supply cannot meet the demand
that has surged in the last few weeks, =91 said Shuva Rahman, a medicine
seller near the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Higher prices and supply shortage of such medicines are hampering
health services, said an on-duty doctor at the DMCH.
Diarrhoea is a water-borne disease that weakens the body due to
dehydration. Doctors ask the patients to take enough pure water to
enable the body to fight the disease.
But low-income people, who rarely have access to pure drinking
water and hygienic environment, are getting afflicted in large numbers
by the disease, said an on-duty doctor.
According to the control room of the DGHS, 2,446 people have been
afflicted by diarrhoeal diseases in 24 hours till Thursday 8:00am.
Noakhali, with 275 patients, has topped the list of affected
districts.
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