Gambia cough syrup row: Indian body says WHO yet to provide 'one to one causal relation of deaths'
Cough syrup
The World Health Organization (WHO) is yet to provide the exact "one to one causalrelation of deaths," said sources at the Indian drugs standards body after the UN agency linked deaths of 66 children in Gambia to India-made cough syrups, media reports said.
"While all required steps will be taken, as a robust regulatory authority, WHO has been requested to share with CDSCO at the earliest the report on the establishment of a causal relation to the deaths with the medical products in question, photographs of labels/products, etc," PTI quoted an official source as saying.CDSCO stands for the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
The WHO had issued a warning on Wednesday (October 6) against allegedly "contaminated" cough syrups manufactured in Haryana by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited as a possible cause of deaths in the West African nation.
The WHO earlier informed the Drugs Controller General of India that it is providing medical assistance to Gambia. After the deaths were reported, the health organisation suspected the use of medicines to be the prime reason for the deaths. It highlighted that medicines might have been contaminated with diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol and later confirmed the samples to be positive as well.
As per WHO's tentative result, four out of the 23 samples found diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol.
The CDSCO said that it responded to the WHO immediately and took up the matter with the authorities.
The source further added that a detailed investigation was launched into the matter with the Haryana State Drugs Controller.
WHO has also confirmed that soon India will share the certificate of analysis.
(With inputs from agencies)
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