NAIL THE CULPRITS

AT LEAST 20 CHILDREN HAVE DIED FROM COUGH SYRUP CONTAMINATION OR MISUSE IN MADHYA PRADESH AND RAJASTHAN—A STARK REMINDER OF THE NEED FOR STRONGER SAFEGUARDS

- By SONALI ACHARJEE / Photo illustration by BANDEEP SINGH / AI

India is once again confronting a grim and recurring public health scandal—the contamination of children's cough syrup. At the centre of the latest episode is Coldrif, manufactured by Sresan Pharma in Tamil Nadu, which several states have banned after official tests confirmed diethylene glycol (DEG) adulteration in a batch linked to clusters of acute kidney injury and child deaths in Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan has faced a parallel tragedy. As the bleak news reports streamed in, families of four deceased children linked the incidents to government-supplied dextromethorphan syrup.

In MP's tribal Chhindwara and Betul districts, 20 children under six have died over the past month after being prescribed the cough syrup for fever, cough and cold. Another nine children with similar kidney-related illnesses are under treatment. After Tamil Nadu's Food and Drug Administration confirmed dangerously high DEG levels in a Coldrif batch supplied to MP and a few other states, the MP police arrested Sresan Pharma owner S. Ranganathan and a government paediatrician, Dr Praveen Soni, on manslaughter charges.

In Rajasthan, official lab tests cleared the batches of dextromethorphan syrup and the health department maintained that the affected children either suffered from other illnesses or had been given the syrup—not recommended for those under four years old—at home, without a prescription. However, reports of adverse reactions in a senior doctor and two other adults who had also consumed the syrup prompted the state to ban all dextromethorphan syrups and suspend medicine supplies from the Jaipur-based manufacturer, Kayson Pharma.

Meanwhile, the Centre has issued an advisory cautioning against giving cough syrups to children under two years of age. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has also launched risk-based inspections.