Model pharmacy has been adopted recently to upgrade the healthcare delivery system in Bangladesh. This study was aimed to analyze and compare the effectiveness of drug dispensing patterns, practices, and knowledge of both clients and dispensers of model pharmacies over traditional retail medicine shops. Two established methods, namely, client simulated method (CSM) and provider interview method (PIM), were employed to determine the practice differences in 90 retail medicine shops and 90 model pharmacies in and around Dhaka city. The results are represented primarily in comparison with corresponding percentages. The survey results did not fully support the findings obtained from the observations of the CSM as PIM contrasted these to some extent, and the differences are statistically significant ( p < 0.0001 ). According to CSM, the presence of A-grade pharmacists during working hours in retail medicine shops was 0%, and 63% in model pharmacies. As reported by PIM, in the retail medicine shops, 36% of clients were ignorant of visiting doctors before purchasing medicine. On the other hand, only 18% of clients could visit doctors. As per CSM, 40% of clients did not follow doctors' recommendations for completion of the full dose of antibiotics bought from retail medicine shops and 51% did not finish full antibiotic courses collected from model pharmacies. Additionally, CSM revealed that 28% of the clients administered leftover drugs following old and obsolete prescriptions of retail medicine shops and 21% of clients followed the same practices in terms of model pharmacies. The report of CSM revealed that 95% of dispensers of retail medicine shops sold medicine without prescription except over-the-counter (OTC), and in the model pharmacies, the percentage was 77%. The qualitative findings revealed substandard practices and dispensing pattern too. Model pharmacies were established to prevent aberrant medicine dispensing patterns and ensure proper medication dispensing practices and medicine intake. This research could not verify the situation that pharmacists or owners of model pharmacies were fully abiding by the guidelines set for them by the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA).

Bangladesh is the pioneer of microfinance in the globe. Last few decades, the microfinance programs of Bangladesh took a strong institutional shape and it also diversified with changing demand of poverty-stricken people over the time. As Bangladesh has achievedremarkable success in microfinance with sustainability, a few of models of poverty elimination have been replicated in different countries of the world. On the other hand, as a disaster-prone countryBangladeshs Microfinance Institutes (MFIs) have demonstrated proven and outstanding capabilities in dealing with natural disasters and other emergenciesat the local and national levels. The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, still fresh and prevailing, has severely damaged the economy of Bangladesh. The objective if this study is to understand how the MFIs of Bangladesh are tackling the shock created by the pandemic Covid-19 and finding the way out. Relevant literatures were surveyed as this is certain to state that the hardest hit by COVID-19 are day laborers and small business groups who belong to below poverty line. However, the MFIs could be able to manage the first shock caused by COVID-19. But the second shock within a year made them vulnerable and the impact of third shock, if appears, may raise the question of survival that may be unmanageable. This article makes efforts to unfold some ways out of the dire situation and bring some lights of hope for better revivification for both MFIs and their clients.

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