WHO alleges 'made in India' cough syrup linked to death of 66 kids in Gambia, probe underway
Cough Syrup
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday (October 5) said that it is investigating "contaminated" medicines, majorly for pediatric use, which are found to contain toxic chemicals.
WHO has issued a warning that they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in the west African nation of The Gambia.
The cough and cold syrups are produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited in India.
In a series of tweets, the WHO, citing its Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: "WHO has today issued a medical product alert for four contaminated medicines identified in #Gambia that have been potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children. The loss of these young lives is beyond heartbreaking for their families."
It added, "The four medicines are cough and cold syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited, in India. WHO is conducting further investigation with the company and regulatory authorities in India."
Tedros also said that WHO was "conducting further investigation with the company and regulatory authorities in India."
As per the alert issued by WHO, the four products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
WHO mentioned that "to date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products." It further added that laboratory analysis of samples of the products "confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants."
The warning states that the toxic substances and can be fatal to humans. The toxic effect "can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death."
WHO said that information received from India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation indicated that the manufacturer had only supplied the contaminated medications to The Gambia.
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