New Delhi (The Hawk): The central Asian country of Uzbekistan's government claims that 18 kids have passed away after ingesting cough medicine made by Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech.
The Doc-1 Max syrup, produced by the Indian business Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd, has been linked to the deaths of 18 out of 21 children with acute respiratory illness, according to a statement from the Uzbekistan Health Ministry.
"It was discovered that the deceased children took this drug at home for 2-7 days, 3-4 times per day, 2.5-5 ml, which exceeds the standard dose of the drug for children," according to the report.
DH's inquiries into the incident were not answered by sources from the Union Health Ministry. However, they insisted that a file had been presented to Health Minister Manuskh Mandaviya, who also serves as the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers and is in charge of the Department of Pharmaceuticals. Marion Biotech, situated in Noida, didn't return calls either.
The Uzbekistan Health Ministry's press release specifies two causes of the tragedy: overdosing on the medication in children who didn't need it and contamination of ethylene glycol, one of the two dangerous substances discovered in the Gambian case.
"The medicine was administered to every child without a prescription from a physician. Doc-1 Max syrup was improperly used by parents as a cold treatment on their own or at the advice of pharmacy salespeople because the drug's primary ingredient is paracetamol. This was the cause of the patients' conditions getting worse, according to the Uzbek Ministry.
According to preliminary laboratory tests, this line of Doc-1 Max syrup contains ethylene glycol. According to Uzbekistan officials, this drug is hazardous and roughly 1-2 ml/kg of a 95% concentrated solution can result in catastrophic changes in the patient's health, including vomiting, fainting, seizures, cardiovascular issues, and acute kidney failure.
The World Health Organization identified ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol as harmful pollutants in four samples of cough syrup (produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, Haryana) in October. These samples are thought to be connected to the deaths of 70 kids in The Gambia. However, there have been numerous instances of EG and DEG being discovered in Indian-made cough syrups in the past, many of which resulted in fatalities.
(Inputs from Agencies)