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Posts tagged as “drugs”

Prisons overcrowding: Admin shortcomings in law enforcement & imprisonment blamed

by Sahan Tennekoon in The Daily Morning, Dec 27, 2023The overcrowding of prisons in Sri Lanka is mainly caused by administrative shortcomings existing in the law enforcement and imprisonment mechanisms, and the rapid increase in crimes related to drugs, said the National Audit Office (NAO). Issuing an audit report prepared by the NAO on the management of the overcrowding of prisons, it stated that the prisons in Sri Lanka currently occupy 232% of the maximum…

Police in Karnali launch campaign against drugs

by Tripti Shahi in The Kathmandu Post, Oct 15, 2023As cases of drug addiction and smuggling shoot up in Karnali Province, police have launched a campaign under the banner ‘Lantern Campaign Against Drugs’. The Karnali Province Police Office in Birendranagar kicked off the anti-drugs drive from Thursday. The campaign will be launched in all 10 districts of Karnali, the country’s biggest and remotest province. Police said that as part of the drive, a coordination desk…

Health Ministry admits quality issues in 63 drugs in 2023

by Sheain Fernandopulle in Daily Mirror, July 21, 2023The Health Ministry has acknowledged that a total of 63 drugs have failed quality tests in 2023, Additional Secretary to the Health Ministry, Dr. Saman Rathnayake, disclosed during a news briefing held at the Ministry auditorium yesterday. Dr. Rathnayake emphasized that among the drugs identified, some have been withdrawn, withheld, or discontinued. He also stated that quality failures are not uncommon and have been observed in the…

India urged to prevent racketeers from misusing its credit line to import substandard drugs to Lanka

By Shamindra Ferdinando in The Island, July 14, 2023The Government Medical Officers’ Forum (GMOF) yesterday (13) pointed out that India couldn’t absolve itself of the responsibility for the alleged supply of low quality Indian medicines to Sri Lanka under the USD 1 bn credit line opened over a year ago. GMOF President Dr. Rukshan Bellana said so, referring to the third death due to low quality drugs reported on Wednesday (12) from the Peradeniya Teaching…

In Afghan hospitals, feeling abandoned by the Taliban — and the world

By Rick Noack in The Washington Post, June 28, 2023SHINDAND, Afghanistan — In the U.S.-built district hospital of Shindand in western Afghanistan, the surge in patients took doctors by surprise. As their wards filled up in recent months, they repurposed staff space to make room for more patients and resorted to prescribing single doses of drugs that should be taken in three doses. Some patients with severe conditions have been turned away because of a…

Seizing Weapons, Drugs: Joint drive to be carried out in Rohingya camps

report in The Daily Star, May 24, 2023A joint operation will be conducted at Rohingya camps to prevent criminal activities and recover weapons and narcotics, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday. If necessary, the army will be present during the drive, he said. He made the comments after attending a meeting with the National Committee on Coordination, Management, and Law and Order of Forcefully Displaced Myanmar Citizens [Rohingyas] at the Secretariat. To prevent any mischief…

Covid drugs of Indian origin destined for China seized at Kathmandu airport

by Arjun Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Mar 3, 2023Customs officials at the Tribhuvan International Airport confiscated drugs worth Rs1.8 million last week. The drugs, which are used in the treatment of severe Covid infection, were brought from India to smuggle to China, officials said. “We have been investigating the rising trend of smuggling drugs worth hundreds of thousands of rupees,” said Santosh KC, spokesperson for the Department of Drug Administration (DDA). “We will destroy…

Human trafficking in Bangladesh increased after natural disasters: UN

report in The Daily Star, Jan 24, 2023Human trafficking cases in Bangladesh and the Philippines increased after devastating cyclones and typhoons displaced millions, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said today. Evidence is emerging that climate-related disasters are becoming a cause of human trafficking as criminal gangs exploit a growing number of uprooted people, the UN drugs agency noted. The continuing war in Ukraine is also another risk factor for increased human…

Afghanistan’s Drug Trade Flourishes Under the Ruling Regime

By Nizamuddin Rezahi in Khaama Press online, Dec 21, 2022After taking power last August, the Taliban promised to crack down on narcotics and explicitly ban the production, processing and sale of illicit drugs. The decree issued by the authorities of the interim regime to ban the production and sale of illicit drugs was not inadequately enforced, and Afghanistan’s drug trade started flourishing under the Taliban regime. Following the regime change in August 2021, the economy…

Worsening hunger

Editorial in Dawn, December 8th, 2022THAT the dollar liquidity crunch has started hurting the import of essential items such as vegetables and raw material for drugs shows how dire the situation has become. A report in this newspaper says that commodity importers continue to face problems in opening letters of credit for imports because of the shortage of dollars in the market. Held up at various terminals of the Karachi port are 417 containers of…

Drugs, supplies shortage within hospitals worsens

By Buddhika Samaraweera in The Morning, Dec 8, 2022Claiming that the shortage of pharmaceutical drugs and other medical supplies is growing more severe by the day, the All-Ceylon Nurses’ Union (ACNU) stated that the number of patients suffering from conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and kidney diseases, asthma, and cancer due to not receiving proper treatment has now increased, but that the deaths associated with the conditions are not recorded as having…