News Flash
DHAKA, May 21, 2026, (BSS) - The indiscriminate sale of medicines, particularly abortion-related ones, at pharmacies is putting women's health at risk in the country, experts say.
Sharmin Zaman, 38, a city dweller from Lalmatia area, faced severe complications after taking abortion medication purchased from a local pharmacy without medical consultation. Her husband Jaman Iqbal works at a private company. Their eldest child is 14, the second son is 12, and the youngest is 7 years old.
After becoming unintentionally pregnant, Sharmin decided to terminate the pregnancy secretly without informing her husband. Following advice from a neighboring woman, she bought abortion pills from a local pharmacy and took them. Two hours after taking the medicine, she began experiencing abdominal pain, which intensified through the night. By dawn, severe bleeding had started.
As the bleeding could not be controlled, she was admitted to Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) Hospital on December 18 with the help of a doctor relative. Seeing her critical condition, physicians immediately took her to the operating theatre for emergency surgery. Timely treatment saved her life.
Her relative, gynecologist Farzana Chowdhury, said the medicine she had taken was Cytomis, whose generic name is Misoprostol. "She bought the medicine without a doctor's prescription, which was wrong. She lost a significant amount of blood. Without timely treatment, she could have died," she said.
She added that many women are frequently purchasing medicines such as Misotol, MM Kit, and Cytomis Kit from pharmacies without prescriptions and using them incorrectly.
Associate Professor Rezaul Karim of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Bangladesh Medical University said these medicines carry side effects and life-threatening risks. "These medicines should never be sold without a doctor's prescription," he said.
He noted that MR (menstrual regulation) medicines are being sold indiscriminately at pharmacies, contributing to maternal deaths. Misoprostol contracts the uterus and is used both to induce labor and, in specific doses, to stop postpartum hemorrhage.
According to the physician, Misoprostol is being sold "like puffed rice" in pharmacies located in city alleys, slums, and villages. "Women buy and consume these medicines without understanding the risks and later face severe complications," he said.
Patients with incomplete abortions or abortion-related complications regularly seek treatment at Bangladesh Medical University Hospital and private clinics, he added.
He further said that menstruation may stop for various reasons, including pregnancy, and terminating a pregnancy under the guise of regulating menstruation is effectively an abortion.
Data provided by Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) show that nearly 1,000 patients were admitted to the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department in the last six months of the previous year due to abortion-related complications, although records do not specify whether Misoprostol was responsible.
Visits to several pharmacies in the capital revealed that medicines outside the OTC (over-the-counter) list are routinely sold without prescriptions. Although regulations require prescriptions for medicines outside the OTC category, both buyers and sellers often ignore the rules.
Medicines play a crucial role in treatment, and the Directorate General of Drug Administration has established policies governing their sale and use. While no prescription is required for OTC medicines, prescriptions are mandatory for other drugs. The authority has also made certification and licensing compulsory for pharmacy operators.
However, experts questioned how effectively these regulations are being enforced.
Health specialists warned that excessive use of acidity or gastric medicines, common in Bangladesh, can have harmful side effects. Continuous use of such medicines for two years may lead to osteopenia.
They also noted that sleeping pills are widely sold without prescriptions, increasing dependency among users. Over time, many individuals feel unable to sleep without the medication.
Experts warned that self-medication can eventually lead to liver and kidney failure, making treatment more difficult for physicians later. They stressed the need to bring pharmacies under proper legal oversight to reduce health risks.
Medicines such as MM Kit and Cytomis Kit are also frequently sold without prescriptions.
Gynecologist Irene Binte Sattar said that 6 to 8 percent of the patients she sees come after suffering complications from taking such medicines, and many of them are teenagers.
She explained that if the medicines are not taken properly and in the correct dosage, parts of the fetus may remain in the uterus, causing excessive bleeding that can continue irregularly for two to two-and-a-half months. Repeated incidents may permanently damage fertility.
She also warned that in cases where the fetus develops in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus, taking abortion medicine purchased from a pharmacy after a urine pregnancy test will not work. "The fetus will continue to grow, and rupture of the fallopian tube can lead to death," she said.
Irene Binte Sattar said many young women do not use contraceptive methods and instead rely on MR or abortion after becoming pregnant. "They are treating MM Kit or Misoprostol as birth control methods," she said.
She recommended making family planning services more accessible and increasing government procurement of MM Kits. According to her, annual demand for MM Kits in the country is now around one million units.
Abortion is illegal in Bangladesh except when necessary to save the mother's life. However, menstrual regulation (MR) is legal. MR involves clearing the uterus, through which an unwanted fetus may also be removed. MR has been included in the national family planning program since 1979.
According to the latest list from the Directorate General of Drug Administration, 21 companies in the country manufacture Misoprostol. Common brands available in the market include Misotol, Cytomis, Isovent, Misopa, and G-Misoprostol.
The medicine is legally used for childbirth and menstrual regulation, but only under the guidance of trained health workers or physicians. Women of reproductive age may legally undergo MR between six and 12 weeks after missing menstruation. Previously, MR was performed through surgical procedures, but medicines have also been used since 2013.
As abortion is illegal, the government does not provide any abortion procedures or guidelines. However, the Directorate General of Family Planning has issued circulars outlining specific MR procedures.
Women's rights organization Naripokkho conducted a study on abortion in 2020, citing data from 2014 showing that more than 250,000 women required treatment for abortion-related complications that year. Nearly half suffered excessive bleeding caused by improper use of Misoprostol.
