Police are seen at the office gate of Marion Biotech, a healthcare and pharmaceutical company and a part of the Emenox group, whose cough syrup has been linked to the death of children in Uzbekistan, in Noida on December 29, 2022. Photo Credit: Reuters
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on December 29, 2022 that the Uttar Pradesh Drug Control and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) are probing Noida-based firm Marion Biotech. This comes a day after the Uzbekistan Ministry of Health said, adding up to 18 child deaths in the country To drink contaminated health syrup made by Marion Biotech.
Shri Mandaviya said that the samples of syrup have been sent to Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh for further examination.
Media reports quoted a legal representative of Marion Biotech as saying that the company has stopped production of cough syrup pending investigation.
The controversy took political color with Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Tweeting that the Narendra Modi-led government should “stop boasting” about India to the world and take strong action, while the ruling party slammed the Congress for ridiculing India in its “disgust” for the prime minister. accused of.
‘premature link’
Government of India was in touch with the officials of UzbekistanBut it is too early to link the present case with the recent incident in Gambia, where Indian-made cough syrup was also blamed for the death of children, said a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
“Uzbek authorities have not formally contacted us on the matter, but our embassy has reached out to the government seeking more information on their investigation. We understand that certain individuals, including the local representative of the Indian company Legal action has been initiated and we are offering all consular assistance in that matter,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. “I am hesitant to call these as identical incidents. Find out what happened There are appropriate mechanisms to put in place. Each incident will be different. With reference to the previous case in The Gambia, our drug regulatory authorities shared the details with the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said the Indian pharmaceuticals industry has been a reliable supplier of drugs to countries across the world and every such incident would be taken “very seriously”, though this particular case required further investigation.
contaminated with ethylene glycol
The children who died in Uzbekistan had reportedly consumed an “overdose” of cough syrup, which contained ethylene glycol, a substance that should not be present in cough syrup. This comes days after a parliamentary panel in The Gambia found “unacceptable levels” of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in cough syrup made by Haryana-based Maiden Pharma. There, cough syrup has been linked to cases of acute kidney injury, which is believed to be responsible for the deaths of at least 63 children.
Maiden Pharma’s export license has been suspended, following a WHO warning on 5 October linking four syrups to deaths in The Gambia. However, India has said that the WHO has drawn a “premature link” between the death of the children and the India-made cough syrup.
(With inputs from PTI)