Four Cough and Cold Syrups made in India could be linked with a miserable 66 children deaths in Gambis. These syrups were manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd in Haryana’s Sonepat.
The firm exported these products only to the Gambia. The 4 products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
These syrups have high contamination of Diethylene Glycol and Ethylene toxic effects including Abdominal pain, vomiting, Diarrhoea, headache, and altered mental state.
Also, Read | A New Hope: CF33 which can kill all types of Cancer
The United Nations agency World Health Organization (WHO) also cautioned that the contaminated medication might have been distributed outside of the west African countries with Global exposure possible.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters –
have been potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children.
To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products,
Also, laboratory analysis of samples of the products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants.
Those substances are toxic to humans and can be fatal, and can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death.
The WHO has not yet provided details on when these deaths took place.
The Indian government has already ordered a probe into the incident. The center also added that the WHO has to provide a detailed report. The WHO is yet to share the details and photos of labels confirming the manufacturer of the products.
WHO also announced that it is conducting further investigations related to the children’s deaths. It is in regular touch with the company as well as the regulatory authority in India for medicines.
WHO Chief said that they have received some information from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization has indicated that the manufacturer only supplied the contaminated medication to the Gambia.