The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), with assistance from the Better Health in Bangladesh (BHB) project plans to accredit 4,000 medicine outlets in Bangladesh as either model pharmacies or model medicine shops in 2022. The accreditation is a five-step process:
- Pre-assess medicine outlets to see if they meet three basic criteria (viz., a valid drug license of the outlet, a registered dispenser, and at least 120 square feet floor space)
- Train dispensers from outlets meeting criteria
- Provide a window period for the outlet to the meet 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 conducted preassessments of 10,697 medicine outlets in 2021 and completed training of 6,206 dispensers from the eligible outlets. Trained dispensers are now upgrading the outlets to meet 12 criteria with support from BHB’s accreditation associates.
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
DGDA officials are inspecting medicine outlets, as recommended by BHB’s accreditation associates—370 visits from April 11, 2022- April 30, 2022. Of those, DGDA recommended 335 outlets for accreditation. The 91% rate reflects the quality and effectiveness of the process. BHB hopes to reach the accreditation target of 4,000 medicine outlets by the end of 2022.
