The World Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating a potential link between a cough syrup made and manufactured in India and the death of more than 60 children in Gambia. Two WHO officials from India reportedly said the medicine could cause kidney damage, reports Reuters.
It's understood 66 youngsters from Gambia tragically died after using the medicine, but little has been shared about symptoms they experienced. Ministers and health organisations in India are now waiting on an official report to confirm or deny whether there was a "causal relation to death with the medical products in question".
Director-general at WHO, Tedros Adhanom has confirmed to Reuters that the organisation is investigating deaths from "acute kidney injuries" with India's drug regulator and New Delhi-based cough syrup manufacturer Maiden Pharmaceuticals. You can get more consumer news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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The 'Drugs Controller General of India' was informed of the potential link in late September and an investigation was then launched, led by WHO and state authorities, sources added. A staff member from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India later told Reuters "urgent investigation" is underway and said research into the matter began "immediately after receiving communication from WHO based on the available information".
So far, the World Health Organisation has analysed the Maiden cough syrup in its lab and confirmed it has "unacceptable" amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which can be toxic and lead to acute kidney injury. Maiden manufactured and exported the syrup only to Gambia, sources at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India said. On its website, Maiden lists two manufacturing plants: in Kundli and Panipat, both near New Delhi in India, and a third that's coming soon.
Annually, the firm produces 2.2million bottles of syrup, 600 million capsules, 18 million injections, 300,000 tubes of ointment and 1.2billion tablets. The firm says its products are sold and exported in India and in Asia, Africa and South America.
The WHO said the Maiden products - Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup - may have been distributed elsewhere through informal markets but regulated selling had only been identified in Gambia.
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