City Desk :
The state-owned pharmaceutical company, Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL), which was earlier plagued by irregularities, corruption, and mismanagement for a long time, has started to turn around.
The company had been causing losses of billions of taka in the past because of purchasing raw materials at high prices in a non-transparent process through syndicated tenders, unusable machinery, and excess manpower.
But today the landscape has changed dramatically in the past few months. The institution is now reporting relief after emerging from the depths of corruption.
The new Managing Director (MD) Samad Mridha took charge and made it clear that there would be no room for corruption and inefficient manpower in the organization any more. After the reform process began under his leadership, EDCL has restored transparency in the tender process and reduced production costs by laying off unnecessary manpower, reducing materials costs, increasing production and reducing over time.
Earlier, the audit report for the 2019-20 fiscal year revealed a loss of about Tk 32 crore in EDCL due to ineffective equipment and failed projects alone.
In addition, the production of important antibiotics was halted for a long time due to tender complications. Two machines at Dhaka, saline & contraceptive project at Gopalgonj not used more than 3 years caused financial losses exceeding 250 million taka.
In addition, the High Court had ordered an investigation into the company for corruption worth Tk 477 crore and 32 irregularities. In February 2025, the ACC conducted a raid on the company.
EDCL has taken several steps to overcome this situation and restore its image.
EDCL’s major achievement is reducing the prices of medicines. This is the first time in the company’s history that the prices of medicines have been reduced and the prices of 33 medicines by up to 50 percent has been reduced recently.
The list of essential medicines to be reduced in price includes Omeprazole capsules for gastric ulcers, Ketorolac injections for pain, various antibiotics for pneumonia and bacterial infections (such as Ceftriaxone and Ceftazidime), and Montelukast tablets for asthma.
The prices of 22 out of 32 medicines listed for healthcare services, especially for rural populations, have been reduced, which will make medical services more accessible in rural health centers.
A large portion of the company’s expenses have been spent on excess and unnecessary manpower. The new management has eliminated more than 722 employees in one fell swoop. This has reduced administrative costs and increased efficiency. Managing Director Samad Mridha said that as part of the restructuring process, about 722 unnecessary and inefficient employees have been laid off. In addition, the process of laying off more than 1,000 more personnel is underway.
EDCL has already launched a third-generation birth control pill and saline production unit. 40 acres of land have been allocated to set up a state-of-the-art EDCL as per FDA guidelines, Vaccine project and Anti-Venom production factory in Sirajdikhan, Munshiganj.
