An essential-medicines list is a policy instrument. Its effect depends on whether suitable products are financed, purchased, supplied and available when people need them.
- Observation coverage
- Gazette dated 29 January 2026 · supplied transcription
- Attributed publication date
- 2026-01-29
- Website refresh policy
- Gazette revisions only; manual review
Published snapshot. A scheduled check does not imply that a new source observation is available.
Loading the published dataset…
Reading the evidence
01
Listing and availability answer different questions
Inclusion establishes a place in a policy list; it does not show that a medicine is stocked, affordable or appropriate for a particular patient. The catalogue helps readers inspect the stated range of medicines and facility designations. Measuring access would additionally require stock observations, procurement lead times, prices and household purchasing data. None of those outcomes can be inferred from the number of names on the list.
02
Count names, entries and categories separately
A medicine may appear under more than one therapeutic heading and in several formulations. Counting list entries as unique medicines would overstate the range of names, while counting categories says little about clinical coverage. The catalogue reports distinct names and detailed entries separately. It rebuilds its name index from the detailed entries because the prototype's alphabetical index contains a corrupted gazette header and omits a corresponding name.
03
Price-setting designs need implementation evidence
The supplied prototype describes cost-plus benchmarking for essential medicines and reference-based pricing for other categories. Those descriptions are treated here as a publication snapshot pending checks against the Gazette, not as a statement of current enforceable prices. Evaluating such approaches requires transparent cost definitions, comparable products, revision procedures and a record of actual approved prices. A policy formula alone cannot show how prices paid by patients will change.
04
Facility designations are conditional
Primary, secondary and tertiary designations help interpret where a listed medicine is intended to be used. Some entries include explicit exceptions for particular facility types. Those exceptions remain attached to each entry and should be read alongside the designation. Formulations and strengths are reproduced as transcription data for policy inspection; they do not specify a patient's dose or replace clinical guidance.
05
Track the path from publication to access
A useful monitoring programme would retain the dated list and its revisions, then follow selected medicines through procurement, delivery and stock availability. Comparing a consistent product, strength and pack size matters when studying prices. Reporting the availability of all tracer medicines, including missing observations and stock-outs, is more informative than presenting only products found in stock. Such linked outcome data is not yet part of this extract.
Methods, sources and reuse
The build extracts the prototype's embedded medicine JSON and parses a limited set of headings, paragraphs, numbered clauses, timeline entries and tables without executing prototype JavaScript or carrying its styling into the site. It preserves the 368 detailed entries, category paths, formulation text, facility exceptions, both notifications, the full pricing-method transcript and both committee annexes. The distinct-name index is regenerated from detailed entries because the supplied alphabetical index is corrupted. The prototype attributes the material to the Bangladesh Gazette of 29 January 2026, pages 57–91; the source PDF remains to be independently linked and checked. This dataset contains no live price or stock feed.
- 1. Bangladesh Government Press: Gazette archive
Primary publication archive. Date and page attribution above comes from the supplied prototype; an exact source PDF remains to be linked.
- 2. Directorate General of Drug Administration
Regulatory publications and current official notices.
- 3. WHO: Essential medicines
General context on selection and health-system access; not verification of the Bangladesh transcription.
- 4. Supplied essential-medicines transcription
Input lineage and original text.
Download and cite this snapshot
Institute of Policy Dynamics, “Bangladesh Essential Medicines: The 2026 List”. Coverage: Gazette dated 29 January 2026 · supplied transcription. Cite the original data providers alongside IPD.
Download the complete published dataset (JSON)Source fingerprint (SHA-256): 2059a31ef84cf0b0347c18b9fd055c591b51ebe13adc1e64ff93db095038fb78
Chart CSV files contain the selected observations. Original data remain subject to their providers' terms; public access alone does not establish an open licence.