Dhaka, Aug 25 (V7N) – The High Court has directed the government to fix the prices of all life-saving medicines manufactured in Bangladesh. The ruling was delivered on Monday by a bench comprising Justice Md. Rezaul Hasan and Justice Biswajit Debnath.

Previously, the government regulated the prices of 739 types of life-saving medicines. However, in 1993, a notification limited this power to only 177 types of medicines. The High Court declared that notification illegal and invalid.

The decision follows a writ filed in 2018 by the human rights organization Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, which argued that the association of private drug manufacturers had been controlling prices, forcing the public to pay higher costs for essential medicines.

On August 17, the interim government formed a task force to prepare a new list of life-saving medicines. The court ordered that the government fix prices for all medicines included in this list to ensure affordability for the public.

END/SMA/AJ