“Bharat ke khilaaf syrup waali saazish,” announced the headline on India News during a morning segment and panel discussion over a recent global alert – issued after 66 deaths allegedly linked to four India-made cough syrups in Gambia.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation said the laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited “confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants”. However, the warning came as a shock to authorities in India, where a third of the world’s medicines are manufactured. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has taken up the matter with authorities in Haryana and sought further details from the WHO.
