The famous public health and medical journal The Lancet wrote in an August 5, 1986 editorial that the discovery of the ORS was the most significant breakthrough in medicine for centuries. ORS has paved the way for fluid treatment for acute diarrhea.
New life-saving medical techniques are usually complicated. In the beginning new drugs or medical devices are expensive and out of reach of many. The exception is ORS. ORS or Oral Rehydration Solution is now a well known product in every household in Bangladesh. Experts claim that if a family knows how to make food saline or if a family has a packet of saline, no member of that family will die of diarrhea.
The story of the discovery of saline
Research on ORS, discoveries, techniques to reach people, teaching people to make ORS এস all have been done in Bangladesh. The original study was conducted by scientists at the International Center for Diarrhea Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB). And behind the discovery was the Bangladeshi doctor. Rafiqul Islam. He was accompanied by scientists David R. Nelin and Richard A. Cass. The results of that study were published in the Lancet in August 1986.
But the main story started in 1971. Bangladesh is excited about the independence movement. The highway was then occupied by the Pakistan Army. And in that war situation, people are leaving the land in Qatar. Some are crossing the barbed wire into India. Refugee camps are being set up across the border. They have to somehow survive in a dirty and unhealthy environment.
Naturally, the epidemic also appeared as an accomplice to the war. Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated during cholera and diarrhea. Intravenous saline is still the only treatment for diarrhea. However, as the epidemic spreads, the supply of saline is much lower than that. And in the meantime, Dr. Rafiqul Islam chose a domestic method to save dying people. He mixed a little molasses and a pinch of salt in a glass of water and fed it to the patients. Those whose condition had become almost fatal due to the constant discharge of fluid from the body continued to recover.
It was at this point that a long-standing unsolved mystery of physiology came to light. The first moderate oral saline or orsaline is made in PSCRL's laboratory. This solution is widely used in the treatment of cholera and diarrhea all over the world. Even the use of oral saline as a primary treatment for dehydration is universally recognized. This discovery was recognized by the World Health Organization in 1980.
It has saved the lives of five crore children
The World Health Organization says diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children under five worldwide. 5 lakh 25 thousand children are dying in it every year. Because if there is diarrhea, water comes out quickly with the toilet. ORS replaces that water. It has so far saved the lives of about 50 million children.