WHO chief said this has been potentially linked with acute kidney injuries among children too...
The government has started an investigation into four cough syrups manufactured by a Haryana-based pharmaceutical firm after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.
On September 29, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the WHO alerted the Drugs Controller General of India about the cough syrups.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation immediately took up the matter with the Haryana regulatory authority and launched a detailed investigation, the sources said.
The cough syrups have been manufactured by M/s Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited in Haryana's Sonepat, the sources said. They added that as per the information available at this point, it seems the firm had exported these products only to The Gambia. The company is yet to respond to the allegations.
The WHO has warned that the syrups may have been distributed outside the West African country and a global exposure is "possible".
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters yesterday that the four cold and cough syrups "have been potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children".
According to the WHO alert, the four products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
"To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products," the alert said, adding that laboratory analysis of samples of the products "confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants."
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