April 25,2008

Dear Doctor
It is our great pleasure to come in front of you with your much awaited medical journal MediNews. We have successfully accomplished our three years journey for Medinews. On the eve of the 4th anniversary, we would like to offer our deepest gratitude to you. In every edition, we reviewed the Medinews according to your valuable suggestions.

We are delighted to inform you that General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (GPL) has received ISO 9001: 2000 certification on December 14, 2007. We believe this ISO certification will lead us to provide you our best possible service.

On the current issue, we arranged a time demanding & your requested topic, Management of Diarrhoea in Children. Professor Md. Salim Shakur, Director & Senior Consultant, Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital has given his most resourceful write up for the lead article. As we all know that Professor Md. Salim Shakur is a well reputed Pediatrician & child nutrition specialist in home & abroad.

Diarrhoeal disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in least developed countries, especially among children aged 0-5 years. Despite all advances in health technology, improved management, and increased use of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the past decades, they remain among the five major killers of children under five years of age. In contrast to mortality trends, morbidity due to diarrhoea has not shown a parallel decline, and global estimates remain between two and three episodes of diarrhoea per child under five per year. Every child in Bangladesh suffers an average of three to five diarrhoeal attacks in each year, which is a major contributor to malnutrition. According to the statistical survey, around 125,000 children under five die each year from diarrhoeal disease; that is, 342 children per day. For about five decades, glucose based ORS serving the whole mankind. But one problem that is glucose based ORS can not provide sufficient energy to diarrhoea patients as these patients usually need energy. But rice based ORS can solve this problem as one pack of 500 ml Rice Saline provides 100000 cal. energy.

As a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, we have much more responsibility for ensuring good health for children in Bangladesh & rest of the world. That’s why GPL is aggresively promoting the advantages of rice based saline throughout the country as well as the rest of the world. In the pictorial section you will find some of the glimpses of the campaign.

We hope that, like previous issues, you will be also getting some refreshing information regarding this public health issue.

While we are preparing this Medinews, SSC Exam is over and HSC exam is knocking at the door. We would like to wish success to all the examinees.

Last November 2007, the whole Bangladesh experienced the havoc of SIDR. We deeply mourn for the departed souls. We also want to appreciate the Doctor’s Community for ensuring proper treatment and support for the SIDR affected people.

Finally we would like to inform you again that we are very much interested to receive your feedback regarding the Medinews. Your feedback always helps us to present the MediNews in a better way.

Wish you all the best.

Thanks & Regards
 

Dr. Ziad Rahman
Executive Editor