Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL) has reduced the prices of 33 essential medicines by 10–50% by dismantling market syndicates and downsizing unskilled staff, said Managing Director Samad Mridha. He revealed that the previous government had nearly 2,000 more employees than needed, most of them unskilled, with 722 already laid off and overtime halted. Cost-cutting measures have enabled significant price drops for drugs including omeprazole capsules, ketorolac injections, ondansetron injections, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime. Montelukast tablets were reduced from Tk 10.67 to Tk 5. Prices of 22 of the 32 medicines supplied to rural clinics have also been cut.