Gambia cough syrup

It was a scandal the Indian government was least prepared for. Just two months ago, a controversy erupted involving the death of 66 children in the Gambia allegedly after taking cough syrup imported from India. Last month, a similar case came to light in Uzbekistan. In a press release at the end of December 2022, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Health stated that 18 of 21 children with acute respiratory diseases died after ingesting Dok-1 Max syrup manufactured by Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd, a company based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The firm Quaramax Medical LLC had imported the syrup. Marion Biotech had a licence from the Food Safety and Drug Administration department in Uttar Pradesh to manufacture the cough syrup and tablets for export. The Central government has been quick to deny any causal connection between the medicine and the deaths in the Gambian case, and results of the investigations in the Uzbek case are pending. All manufacturing activities in the two pharmaceutical companies have been stopped until further notice. Frontline’s email to Marion Biotech got no response until the magazine went to print. The Uzbek incident According to the Uzbekistan Health Ministry’s press note, a special working group it constituted began an inspection after children in Samarkhand who had consumed the syrup reported side effects. The main substance in the drug is paracetamol, and parents used it as an anti-cold remedy on their own or on the recommendation of pharmacists. The working group c...

BANJUL, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Gambia has not yet confirmed that toxic cough syrup was the cause of the deaths of 70 children from acute kidney injury, a representative of the country's Medicines Control Agency said on Monday. The small West African state has been investigating a mysterious slew of child deaths in recent months, which police said in a preliminary investigation was World Health Organization (WHO) investigators have But Gambia's Medicines Control Agency, a national regulatory body, has not yet pinpointed the exact cause of the deaths, said Tijan Jallow, an officer at the agency. "We haven't concluded yet it is the medicine that caused it. A good number of kids died without taking any medications," Jallow told a news conference. "Other kids died, the medication that they took, we have tested them and they are good," he added. The agency is trying to establish exactly which medications, if any, each child took. The spike in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five was detected in late July. Officials said a number of patients had fallen ill three to five days after taking a paracetamol syrup sold locally. By October, the number of deaths had risen to 70, out of 82 children reported to have acute kidney injury. The other 12 recovered, according to the health ministry. Indonesia has also recorded a spike in child deaths from acute kidney injury in recent months, and is

New Delhi: An US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation has now found that contaminated medications made by India-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals were “associated” with the deaths of 70 children in Gambia that took place between August and December last year. The US-CDC report was published on March 3. This is the third The Wire had reported that the WHO had found diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), two industrial chemicals, in huge quantities in the four paediatric formulations — ranging from 1.0%-21.30%. A Gambian parliamentary probe had concluded that Maiden Pharmaceuticals was ‘culpable’ of the deaths and ‘should be held accountable’. The Indian government, had, however, cleared the name of the firm in the incident after testing control samples of the same batch that was exported to Gambia. It found no contamination in them. However, the WHO had refused to accept this report and issued a renewed alert against the four products in question, in January this year. It had issued the first product alert last October. The four products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup. The US-CDC report now says, “This investigation strongly suggests that medications contaminated with DEG or EG imported into The Gambia led to this AKI [acute kidney injury] cluster among children.” Also read: One of the authors of this report, Peter Adewuyi, told The Wire , “If the Indian government ...

[1/3] Ebrima Sagnia holds up a sign during a news conference, calling for justice for the deaths of children linked to contaminated cough syrups, in Serekunda, Gambia, November 4, 2022. Sagnia's 3-year-old son Lamin died of Acute Kidney Injury in September 2022. Reuters, Edward McAllister/File Photo BANJUL, June 1 (Reuters) - Gambia has hired a U.S. law firm to explore legal action after a government-backed investigation found that contaminated medicines from India were "very likely" to have caused the deaths of children last year, the justice minister told Reuters. At least 70 children in Gambia, most under 5 years old, died from acute kidney injury between June and October. Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow told Reuters legal action was one option under consideration by the government, the first sign of potential international litigation over the deaths. Jallow did not say who would be the target of potential legal proceedings or name the law firm hired to help. The medicines linked to the children's deaths were made by Indian drug maker Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which denied wrongdoing. Tests by the WHO found that the Maiden cough syrups contained the lethal toxins diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), used in car brake fluid. India's government has said its own tests on the drugs found no toxins. India's health ministry and Maiden did not respond to requests for comment on Gambia's possible legal action. The WHO declined to comment. Indian officials have ...

BANJUL, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Gambia's government on Friday said the number of child deaths from acute kidney injury, thought to be linked to Indian-made cough syrups, has risen to 70 from a previous toll of 69. President Adama Barrow gave the update at an emergency cabinet meeting which he convened on Thursday to discuss The syrups were found to be made by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which has since had one of its factories shut down in northern India Gambia is also investigating the deaths and this week set up a new commission of inquiry to deal with them, the statement said.

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