The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), with assistance from the Better Health in Bangladesh (BHB) project, aims to accredit 4,000 medicine outlets in the country in 2022. By the end of June 2022, 2,419 medicine outlets had been accredited—60% of the target. The medicine outlets, following accreditation, will be regarded as either model pharmacies or model medicine shops. The accreditation is a five-step process:
- Pre-assess medicine outlets to see if they meet three basic criteria (viz., a valid drug license, a registered dispenser, and at least 120 square feet floor space)
- Train dispensers from the outlets that meet the criteria
- Provide a window period for the outlet to meet the 12 accreditation criteria
- Conduct a post-assessment to determine accreditation readiness
- Make final accreditation visits, so a DGDA official can approve or reject accreditation
BHB assessed 10,697 medicine outlets in 2021 and trained 6,206 dispensers from eligible outlets. Trained dispensers are now upgrading their outlets to meet the 12 criteria with support from BHB’s accreditation associates, who recommend to DGDA officials which outlets are ready to inspect.
12 Retail Outlet Accreditation Criteria
- Valid drug license
- Registered dispenser
- ≥120 square feet floor space
- Dispenser trained by BHB on good pharmacy practice
- Patient counseling service
- No sales of antibiotics without prescription
- Antibiotics register
- Labelled disposal bin for expired medicines
- Expired medicine register
- Functioning thermometer to monitor room temperature
- Functioning refrigerator with temperature monitoring
- Saved invoices of purchased medicines
By the end of June 2022, 2,545 accreditation visits to medicine outlets had taken place. Of those, DGDA recommended 2,419 outlets for accreditation. The 95% success rate reflects the quality and effectiveness of the process.
