2 More Children Die Of Renal Failure, Toll Mounts To 16, 2 More Cough Syrups Banned
While a two-year-old girl died of kidney infection on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, a one-year-old baby boy died of renal failure on Tuesday afternoon: Reports
BHOPAL: Two more children died of renal failure after consuming toxic cough syrup, taking the toll in the drug tragedy in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district to 16. While a two-year-old girl died of kidney infection on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, a one-year-old baby boy died of renal failure on Tuesday afternoon.
Both the children from Chhindwara district were admitted to hospitals in Nagpur for treatment of kidney infection, Chhindwara additional district magistrate Dheeraj Singh said on Tuesday. Five more children affected by renal infection after allegedly consuming contaminated cough syrup were currently undergoing treatment in different hospitals in Nagpur.
In another development, the state government has banned two more cough syrups, Relief (batch number LSL25160) and Respifresh TR (batch number RO1GL2523), which were found to be of non-standard quality.
The move comes after it has been found in the tests that both the drugs contained the toxic ingredient, diethylene glycol, more than the permissible limits, a spokesman of the Madhya Pradesh government said on Tuesday.
Both the drugs are manufactured in Gujarat, he added. The drug controller of Madhya Pradesh has written a letter to his counterpart in Gujarat to take necessary action in the matter, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh government has initiated a probe to find out why a large batch of contaminated syrup landed in Parasia.
It was found unusual how a large batch of over 600 contaminated cough syrup dispatched from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh reached Parasia where maximum deaths of infants due to kidney failure after consuming the syrup were reported, sources said.
The Food and Drug Administration has meanwhile continued raids in the medical stores across the state to seize the substandard drugs.
The Opposition Congress on Tuesday demanded a probe either by a retired judge of the supreme court or by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the deaths of infants due to the alleged consumption of contaminated cough syrup in Chhindwara district.