Another cough syrup related death in Madhya Pradesh: Five-month-old girl dies after consuming medicine

After the incident of child deaths linked to toxic cough syrups in Madhya Pradesh last month, a five-month-old girl died within hours of being given an ayurvedic cough syrup in Chhindwara district of the state, official said on Friday. Soon after the incident was reported, the local authorities sealed the shop that sold the medicine and launched an investigation. The mother of the child, who had been suffering from cold and cough had bought the syrup from a local medical store on October 27

"Ruhi Minote, who was suffering from cold and cough, died on Thursday. Her family had purchased an Ayurvedic syrup and some medicinal powder from Kuratha Medical Shop four days earlier. The medical shop has been sealed," Chaurai Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Prabhat Mishra told news agency PTI.

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"A case of unnatural death has been registered by police. Samples of the syrup and powder have been sent for testing. The viscera has been sent to the forensic science laboratory (FSL) in Jabalpur. We are waiting for the post-mortem report," the SDM further said.

The cough syrup case

This incident comes after three contaminated cough syrups manufactured in India were linked to the deaths of 24 children in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district. The cough syrups in question were Coldrif (Sresan Pharmaceutical), Respifresh TR (Rednex Pharmaceuticals), and ReLife (Shape Pharma).

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global health advisory after the incident came to light.

The WHO in its health advisory said that the three cough syrups contained toxic levels of diethylene glycol — nearly 500 times the permissible limit — and warned that the products posed significant, potentially life-threatening risks