ORS and Electrolyte Price in Bangladesh

Loose stools, a day of hard work in the sun or a long fever can drain water and salts faster than plain water puts them back. This hub gathers what restores them: oral rehydration salts, salt and potassium tablets, potassium syrups, sodium bicarbonate, magnesium oxide, and the drips and albumin infusions given on a hospital ward. Oral saline is sold over the counter; most other items here are prescribed once a blood test shows which salt is out of balance.

Water & Electrolytes Replacement & Plasma Substitute sits under Vitamin, Mineral & Nutritional Deficiency.

Electrolyte Medicine by Type

Each child shelf holds one kind of replacement, from the sachet a family keeps at home to the infusion only a ward nurse sets up:

• Oral Electrolytes — glucose, rice and flavoured ORS sachets, plus sodium chloride tablets.
• Electrolytes Preparations — potassium chloride as tablets, syrups and concentrated injections.
• Intravenous Fluid Preparations, Urinary Alkalinizing Agent — sodium bicarbonate tablets and injections.
• Antacids, Electrolytes Preparations — magnesium oxide tablets.
• Electrolytes — Ringer’s solution for hospital drips.
• Plasma Expanders — human albumin, starch and dextran infusions.

Why Plain Water Falls Short

Diarrhoea pulls sodium, potassium and bicarbonate out with the water, so drinking water alone can leave the body diluted rather than refilled. Oral rehydration salts work because glucose or rice starch carries sodium across the gut wall, and water follows the sodium. That simple pairing, developed and tested in Dhaka, is why a sachet stirred into clean water treats most cases of diarrhoea at home.

Heavy sweating does something similar. Rickshaw pullers, construction workers and farmers in the pre-monsoon heat lose salt all day, and cramps, headache and weakness by evening are often the result.

Mixing ORS the Right Way

The ratio of salt to sugar is what makes ORS work, and it only holds when the sachet is mixed exactly as printed. Empty the whole sachet into the full amount of clean, boiled and cooled water stated on the pack. Rice ORS sachets are made for a larger volume than the standard glucose sachet, so the two are never mixed the same way.

• Never split a sachet or top up the jug with extra water later.
• Do not add sugar, salt, glucose powder or juice.
• Give small, frequent sips; a child who vomits can start again slowly after a short pause.
• Throw away what is left after the time printed on the sachet and make a fresh batch.

ORS, Sports Drinks and Home Drinks

Bottled drinks are often reached for first, and their balance is quite different from oral saline:

Drink	Salt and sugar	Use it for
ORS sachet	Measured sodium and glucose in the ratio the gut absorbs	Diarrhoea, vomiting and heavy sweating
Sports drink	Much more sugar, much less salt	Long exercise in healthy adults, not diarrhoea
Soft drink or packaged juice	High sugar, almost no salt	Avoid during diarrhoea; the sugar can draw more water into the gut
Daab (green coconut) water, rice water	Some potassium, little sodium	Extra fluid alongside ORS, not in place of it

Signs of Severe Dehydration

Oral saline handles mild and moderate dehydration. Go to a hospital or the nearest health complex straight away if any of these appear:

• Sunken eyes, a dry mouth with no tears, or skin that stays tented when pinched.
• No urine for many hours, or a baby with very few wet nappies.
• Unusual drowsiness, confusion, or being too weak to drink.
• Vomiting every sip, blood in the stool, or large watery stools like rice water.

At that point fluid has to go straight into a vein. The drips, Ringer’s solution and plasma expanders on this hub are listed for hospital and clinic use; they are not meant to be set up at home.

Potassium, Sodium and Bicarbonate Tablets

These tablets correct a level a doctor has measured. Potassium chloride is prescribed when a water tablet or long diarrhoea has lowered potassium; sodium chloride tablets treat low sodium; sodium bicarbonate is often given in long-term kidney disease, where the blood becomes too acidic. Magnesium oxide doubles as an antacid and a magnesium replacement.

Potassium is the one to be careful with. In kidney disease, or alongside some blood-pressure medicines such as spironolactone or ACE inhibitors, extra potassium can build up and upset the heart rhythm. Take these tablets only on a prescription and keep the follow-up blood test.

Albumin and Plasma Expanders

Human albumin is made from donated plasma and given by slow drip for low albumin in liver disease, severe burns, some kidney conditions and after major surgery. Starch and dextran infusions hold fluid in the bloodstream during shock or blood loss. Hospitals in Bangladesh often ask a patient’s family to buy these and bring them to the ward, so the order should match the doctor’s written request exactly.

ORS and Electrolyte Price in Bangladesh

ORS sachets are the least costly item on the shelf, with flavoured and rice-based sachets a little above plain glucose ones. Salt, potassium, bicarbonate and magnesium tablets come in low-cost strips, and potassium syrup sits slightly higher. Starch and dextran drips cost more again.

Human albumin is far above everything else, because it is imported and made from donated plasma. Albumin should travel and be stored in its carton, away from heat and direct sun, until the ward nurse opens it.

Before You Order

• Mix each ORS sachet in exactly the water volume printed on it, whether glucose or rice based.
• Keep breastfeeding a baby with diarrhoea and give ORS in between feeds.
• Mention kidney disease or blood-pressure tablets before starting potassium chloride.
• Swallow potassium tablets whole with a full glass of water while sitting upright.
• Bring the hospital requisition, with the patient’s name, for albumin and infusion orders.

Manufacturers Stocked Here

Local makers supply most of the oral range, and the albumin is imported:

• SMC Enterprise Limited — the familiar Orsaline sachet.
• Square Pharmaceuticals PLC. — rice ORS, salt tablets, bicarbonate and magnesium oxide.
• Opsonin Pharma Limited — potassium chloride in three forms, salt and bicarbonate tablets.
• Renata Limited — several glucose ORS sachets.
• Eskayef — rice-based and standard oral saline.
• Jayson Pharmaceuticals Ltd. — potassium syrups and bicarbonate injections.
• Grifols — imported human albumin.

Popular Product Examples

A sachet, a rice ORS, a potassium tablet and an albumin bottle:

• Orsaline (SMC)
• Rice ORS 500ml
• KCL 600 Potassium Chloride Tablet
• Plasbumin-20 Albumin (Human) 20% 50ml

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a breastfed baby with diarrhoea have ORS?

Yes, by spoon or cup between feeds, with breastfeeding continued. A young baby with diarrhoea should still be seen by a doctor promptly.

What does the rice in rice ORS do?

Rice starch replaces glucose as the carrier that helps the gut absorb salt and water. It is mixed in a different volume, so follow its own pack.

Why does potassium need a blood test first?

Both too little and too much potassium affect the heart. The test shows whether you need it and lets the doctor check the level again later.

Is the sodium bicarbonate here the same as baking soda?

It is the same chemical, but these tablets are made to a medicine standard and prescribed at a measured amount, usually for kidney disease. Kitchen soda is not a substitute.

Should someone with high blood pressure drink oral saline?

During diarrhoea, usually yes, because the salt is replacing what is lost. Drinking it daily without diarrhoea adds salt you do not need.

Can a family give albumin to a patient at home?

No. It is a hospital infusion given under supervision; families buy it on the ward’s written request.