The High Court has upheld the government’s power to control the price of medicines under Section 11 of the ‘Drugs Control Ordinance 1982’. As a result of this ruling, the power to determine the prices of most life-saving medicines in the country has returned to the relevant government authorities, instead of the manufacturers.
On Monday (August 25), a High Court bench comprising Justice Md. Rezaul Hasan and Justice Biswajit Debnath announced the verdict.

In the verdict, the court said that the government should determine the price of life-saving drugs in light of Article 112 of the Constitution and publish it in the form of a gazette. At the same time, the Health Secretary, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services, Director General of Drug Administration (DG Drugs), President and General Secretary of the Drug Owners Association and other concerned parties have been asked to implement this directive.

This resulted in the reinstatement of the 1993 Government Gazette, in which the Ministry of Health had fixed the prices of 739 medicines. However, a 1994 circular limited that power to fix the prices of only 177 medicines, leaving the government with the authority to fix the prices of the remaining medicines. The power to fix the prices of the remaining medicines was given to the manufacturing companies. In today’s verdict, the High Court declared that circular invalid.

Senior advocate Manzil Morshed appeared for the writ petition filed in public interest. He was assisted by advocate Sanjay Mondal. Senior advocate S. K. Morshed appeared for the Drug Owners Association and Deputy Attorney General Syed Ejaz Qarib appeared for the state.

The writ was filed by the human rights organization Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB).

After the verdict, lawyer Manzil Morshed told reporters that the issue of increasing the price of life-saving drugs is directly related to the right to life of people. Giving the power to control prices to manufacturers was tantamount to violating the fundamental rights of citizens.