The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning that four cough syrups produced by a pharmaceutical company in Haryana may be responsible for the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia, prompting the government to launch a probe.
The WHO reportedly informed the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) about the cough syrups, according to top sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. According to the sources, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization promptly brought the issue up with the Haryana regulatory body and started a thorough inquiry.
According to the sources, M/s Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited produces the cough syrups in Sonepat, Haryana. They continued by saying that based on the evidence at hand, it appears the company has solely exported these goods to The Gambia. The company is yet to respond to the allegations.
The WHO has issued a warning that a global exposure is “probable” and that the syrups may have been distributed outside of the West African nation.
Yesterday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, informed reporters that the four cold and cough medicines “have been potentially connected with acute kidney damage and 66 child deaths.”
The four items are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup, according to the WHO advisory.
The notice claimed that laboratory analysis of product samples “confirms that they include excessive quantities of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as impurities,” and that “to yet, the indicated producer has not offered guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these items.”
It added that the harmful effects “may include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, difficulty to pass urine, headache, changed mental state, and severe renal injury which may lead to death” as a result of exposure to those drugs.
According to ministry sources, WHO has not yet released the “precise one to one causative link of mortality.” They also mentioned that the WHO has not yet released information and images of labels attesting to the products’ manufacturers.
The exact date that these deaths occurred has not yet been disclosed by the WHO.
