Eight children, aged between one and seven, have died over the past month in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, with authorities suspecting cough syrup poisoning as the common cause, The New Indian Express reported.
While six deaths were reported from Madhya Pradsh’s Chhindwara district, two fatalities took place in Rajasthan’s Sikar and Bharatpur districts.
In both states, health authorities have issued restrictions and advisories, and investigations are underway.
In Madhya Pradesh, six children from the Parasia area in Chhindwara district died between September 4 and September 26 after developing kidney problems and reduced urine output after they had been given cough syrups for mild fever and cold, The New Indian Express reported.
After an initial recovery, the children’s conditions deteriorated rapidly, with symptoms including vomiting, swelling of the body and ultimately kidney failure.
Chhindwara District Collector Sheelendra Singh confirmed that two commonly prescribed cough syrups were found in all six cases. Pending test results, an advisory has been issued to restrict the sale, use and prescription of these syrups.
Samples of the syrups have been sent to laboratories in Bhopal, while the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Centre for Disease Control teams are investigating on the ground, the newspaper reported.
In Rajasthan, two children died and eight others fell ill after consuming a generic cough syrup supplied through government health centres, The Times of India reported.
On September 22, a two-year-old in Bharatpur district died after reportedly consuming the syrup, and days later, on September 29, a five-year-old from the state’s Sikar district died after being administered the same medicine, PTI reported.
Following the deaths, the Rajasthan government banned 22 batches of the syrup and halted supplies from the manufacturer, Kayson Pharma.
Over 1.33 lakh bottles of the syrup had been distributed across the state since July, and at least 8,200 bottles remain in stock at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital, but their use has now been prohibited.
A doctor who attempted to prove the syrup’s safety by consuming it himself at the Bayana community health centre in Bharatpur fell unconscious eight hours later, The Times of India reported.
Deaths due to toxic cough syrups manufactured in India first made headlines in October 2022, when the World Health Organization issued a global alert for four such medicines manufactured by the Haryana-basedMaiden Pharmaceuticals.
This was after the authorities in The Gambia linked 66 deaths, most of them due to acute kidney failure, to the four medicines.
The usual cause of toxicity in cough syrups has been the use of industrial-grade glycerine or propylene glycol instead of pharmaceutical-grade versions. Industrial-grade variants are cheaper but can be contaminated with diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol which can cause diarrhoea, altered mental status, acute kidney injury, and lead to death, especially in children.
In December 2022, the World Health Organization recommended not using two cough syrups made by Indian pharmaceutical firmMarion Biotech after Uzbekistan’shealth ministry said that 18 children died after consuming the Dok 1 Max syrup manufactured by the company.
In August 2023, the World Health Organization issued another alert about a batch of India-made common cold syrup.
Samples from the batch that were obtained in Iraq were found to contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants, the global health body said. This was the fifth time since 2022 that the global health body issued such an alert about syrup medications manufactured in India.
In July 2024, Cough syrup samples taken from over 100 pharmaceutical units across India failed tests for quality control.
Also read: India’s cough syrup testing regime has a deadly blind spot |
