India investigates four cough syrups following a WHO alert about 66 child deaths in the Gambia

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• Oct 6, 2022 | Sourav Boruah

Digital Desk: After the World Health Organization (WHO) warned
that four cough syrups manufactured by a Haryana-based pharmaceutical firm
could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia, the government
launched an investigation.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sources, the
WHO notified the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on September 29 about
the cough syrups. According to the sources, the Central Drugs Standard Control
Organization immediately took up the matter with the Haryana regulatory
authority and launched a thorough investigation.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sources, the
WHO notified the Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI).

According to sources, M/s Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited in
Haryana's Sonepat manufactured cough syrups. According to the information
available at this time, the firm appears to have exported these products only
to The Gambia. The company has yet to respond to the charges. The company's
administrative office in Pitampura, Delhi, was discovered closed this morning.

The WHO has warned that the syrups may have been distributed
outside of the West African country, posing a global risk.

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
the four cold and cough syrups "have been potentially linked to acute
kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children."

According to ministry sources, WHO has yet to provide the
"exact one-to-one causal relation of death." They added that the WHO
has yet to share the details and photos of the labels confirming the product's
manufacturer.

The WHO has not yet provided information on when these deaths
occurred.

According to sources, samples of the four cough syrups will now
be tested in central and regional laboratories, with results expected in two
days. According to the sources, any drug exported from India is tested by the
receiving country per protocol. According to the sources, the question is why
the contamination was not detected during testing in The Gambia. They also
claimed that the WHO had not informed them whether the drugs had been used in
the West African country without being tested.

The four products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin
Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup, according
to the WHO alert.

"To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided WHO
with guarantees on the safety and quality of these products," according to
the alert, adding that laboratory analysis of product samples "confirms
that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol
as contaminants."

It added that the toxic effect "can include abdominal
pain, vomiting, diarrhea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental
state, and acute kidney injury which may lead to death."