MP: 6 Children Die Of Kidney Failure After Consuming Cough Syrup
Teams from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and state-level Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) have been deployed in the area to probe the case: Reports
Bhopal: At least six children have died of kidney failure over three weeks in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district, prompting the Centre as well as the state government to launch separate probes.
The deaths of six children were reported in the Parasia area in Chhindwara from September 4th to September 26 due to kidney failure, the local chief medical and health officer Dr Naresh Gunnade said on Wednesday.
According to him, complaints of fever were first received from the area on August 22 and later deaths of three children were reported from September four to September seven.
Three more children from the area succumbed to kidney failure later.
Teams from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and state-level Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) have been deployed in the area to probe the case.
Health officials suspect that a contaminated cough syrup may have caused the deaths.
Preliminary official investigations suggested that the over-the-counter medicine may have been tainted with diethylene glycol (DEG), a highly toxic chemical known to cause severe kidney damage.
Chhindwara district collector Sheelendra Singh has ordered a ban on the sale of two specific cough syrups suspected to be linked to the fatalities.
The probe teams have collected blood samples of people in the affected area and various other samples like water, entomological, and drugs in the locality have also been collected and sent for examination, Dr Gunnade said.
Official sources said that similar cases have also been reported from Betul, Seoni, and Pandhurna regions in Madhya Pradesh.
Five children, suspected to be affected by kidney failure, have been referred to the Government Medical College, Nagpur, in Maharashtra, sources said.