FATAL NEGLECT

A spate of child deaths from contaminated cough syrup exposes deep flaws in India's drug oversight

- NARASIMHA REDDY DONTHI

AT LEAST 24 children, all under five, have died in Madhya Pradesh over the past month after consuming adulterated cough syrup. Most of the victims were from Chhindwara, with some cases reported in the neighbouring districts of Betul and Pandhurna. Three more children remained in critical condition in Nagpur at the time the magazine went to print. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that the deaths have been linked to specific batches of three oral liquid medicines, Coldrif, Respifresh TR and ReLife, which were found to contain diethylene glycol (DEG), a toxic industrial solvent. CDSCO said the contaminated syrups had not been exported. However, WHO has issued a global alert, urging countries to monitor for any trace of the three medicines within their borders.

Similar incidents occurred in The Gambia and Uzbekistan in 2022, and in Cameroon the following year, where dozens of children died after consuming cough syrups manufactured in India. The tragic deaths of otherwise healthy children and the discovery of contamination in medicines, point to a deeper systemic failure: India’s weak regulatory oversight of pharmaceuticals.

People in rural and remote areas are particularly vulnerable to medical malpractice and fraud, including the distribution of adulterated allopathic drugs. Most Indians, regardless of education, are also largely unaware of drugregulation regime. Given the wide distribution of such medicines and legally endorsed process of prescription, a single batch of contaminated medicine can thus have devastating consequences.