An Indonesian court has ordered two companies that distributed a toxic cough syrup that killed more than 200 children to pay compensation to each family whose child died or was injured after taking the medication.
The companies, Afi Farma and CV Samudera Chemical, will have to pay as much as much as 60 million rupiah ($3,850) to the families. About 120 children survived the poisoning that caused acute kidney disease, some with disabilities.
Suspicions were first raised about the cough syrups in 2022 after children began to get seriously ill after taking what their parents thought were everyday cold medications. When some of them died, the government ordered the withdrawal of syrup-based medicines from sale and revoked the permits for more than 1,000 such products.
Some 25 families then launched a civil suit against the country’s food and drugs agency (BPOM), the Health Ministry and eight pharmaceutical companies.
In a ruling released late on Thursday, the Central Jakarta court found that Afi Farma, the drugmaker, and CV Samudera, the supplier, were at fault. It cleared the Health Ministry and the BPOM of any wrongdoing.
The court ordered the companies to pay the parents who brought the suit compensation of 50 million rupiah for children who died and 60 million rupiah for children who were injured.
Parents had asked for 3.4 billion rupiah (about $219,000) for each death, and 2.2 billion rupiah (about $142,000) for survivors.
The court document, posted on its website, did not include reasons for the decision.
Last year, a criminal court found East Java-based Afi Farma guilty of negligence and jailed officials for not testing the ingredients sent by its supplier.
Investigations showed the syrups contained ethylene glycol (EG), a commonly used chemical in products such as brake fluid and antifreeze. A court document from that case said the EG concentration in the syrups was as high as 99 percent. International standards say only 0.1 percent of EG is safe for consumption.
Afi Farma has repeatedly denied negligence.
In 2022, children also died from kidney disease in The Gambia and Uzbekistan after taking contaminated cough and cold syrups.
