NEW DELHI: Two Indian officials said on Thursday that India is seeking evidence from the World Health Organization (WHO) showing a connection between an Indian cough syrup and the deaths of numerous children in the Gambia after the UN agency warned the drug may cause renal damage.
A blow to India’s reputation as a “pharmacy of the world” that provides medicines to all continents, notably Africa, is the death of 66 youngsters in the West African nation.One of the two employees of the health ministry who testified on the ministry’s behalf said, “Urgent investigation of the problem has already been taken up… immediately after getting communication from WHO.”
India was expecting a report from the WHO establishing “causal relation between death with the medicinal products in question” and other facts, even though “all necessary steps will be done in the case”.
The deaths from acute renal damage are being looked into by the WHO, India’s drug authority, and Maiden Pharmaceuticals, a cough medicine company with its headquarters in New Delhi, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ statement to reporters on Wednesday.
The deaths were reported to the Indian Drugs Controller General late last month by the UN health agency, and the regulator then initiated an investigation alongside state officials and the WHO, according to the two individuals.
It can produce 1.2 billion pills, 600 million capsules, 18 million injections, 2.2 million syrup bottles, and 300,000 ointment tubes per year. It claims that in addition to selling its goods domestically, it also exports them to Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
According to the two officials from the health ministry, importing nations normally evaluate these products before approving their usage.The Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup were all Maiden products, according to the WHO, although it had only been discovered in Gambia.
