Experts Discuss Essential Drug List and Policy at Dhaka Dialogue
A national policy dialogue in Dhaka focused on updating Bangladesh's essential medicine list and creating a balanced drug policy. Experts emphasized that mere listing is not enough to guarantee public access, safety, and affordability.
A high-level national policy dialogue titled 'Medicines within Patients' Reach, Sustainability of Manufacturers: In Search of a Balanced Drug Policy' was held on Tuesday at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka. The event brought together various stakeholders to deliberate on crucial healthcare policies, specifically focusing on updating the national essential medicine list and formulating a balanced pharmaceutical framework for Bangladesh.
During the discussions, data regarding international and national medicine standards was highlighted. According to the presented information, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its 34th edition of the essential medicines list in 2025. This international benchmark list includes 532 essential medicines for adults and approximately 342 essential medicines for children.
In stark contrast, the current national essential medicines list for Bangladesh contains only 117 drugs. This significant gap between the global standard set by the World Health Organization and the domestic list formed a core part of the deliberations at the capital's CIRDAP venue, where participants discussed the necessity of expanding and modernizing the local framework.
Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, representing the World Health Organization and the Public Integrity Network for Evidence and Transparency (PINET), addressed the gathering to share critical insights on universal health coverage. He noted that updating the list of necessary medicines is vital for achieving universal health coverage (UHC), but cautioned that the administrative act of creating a list alone does not automatically guarantee that citizens will receive the medicines they need.
Dr. Malik further elaborated on the multi-faceted approach required to make healthcare genuinely accessible to the population. He stressed that authorities must ensure several practical conditions are met across the country: medicines must be available everywhere within the nation, they must remain securely within the purchasing power and affordability of ordinary people, and their safe and effective supply chain must be strictly guaranteed from manufacturers to end-users.
