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The High Court has directed the government to set prices for life-saving medicines through the proper authority and publish them in the official gazette.
The ruling was issued on Monday by the bench of Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Bishwajit Debnath following lengthy hearings on a writ petition filed seven years ago, bdnews24.com reports.
Senior lawyer Manzill Murshid appeared for the petitioner, assisted by Advocate Sanjoy Mondal. Senior advocate SK Morshed represented the Association of Pharmaceutical Owners, while Deputy Attorney General Syed Ejaz Karim appeared for the state.
Ejaz Karim said the Drugs Control Ordinance of 1982 vested the government with the authority to regulate medicine prices. Acting under that law, the government set prices for 739 medicines in 1993.
However, on Feb 26, 1994, the Ministry of Health issued a circular restricting price controls to just 117 drugs, leaving prices of all others to be determined by pharmaceutical companies.
That circular was challenged in 2018 in a public interest writ petition by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB).