Brand India takes a hit, WHO issues alert on cough syrups

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued an alert over the two cough syrups made in India after they were linked to deaths of children in Uzbekistan. Ambronol and DOK-1 Max syrups made by Marion Biotech were found to contain "unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and /or ethylene glycol as contaminants,” the global health body has said.

The Uzbek Ministry of Health completed the tests at the national quality control laboratories. "The stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products," the WHO said.

Last month, Uzbek authorities said that at least 19 children had died after taking the cough syrups. The medicine was administered by parents on the advice of pharmacists and was not prescribed by doctors. Doses of 2.5ml to 5ml, provided three to four times on a daily basis, exceeds the recommended amount for children.

India’s Health Ministry said it immediately inspected the Marion Biotech plant in Noida and stopped the manufacturing of the medicines along with their licence being suspended. According to the WHO, the contaminants detected can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headaches, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death.

They are used in the preparation of antifreeze, brake fluid, cigarettes, paints and dyes, plastics, films and cosmetics. This is the second time in the past few months that the WHO has issued an alert over medicinal syrups that have been manufactured in India and have been linked to deaths of children in other countries. 

On October 5, the agency said that over four cough and cold syrups produced by the pharmaceutical company Maiden based in Haryana were found to contain "unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants".

Authorities in Gambia said that over 70 children even as young as five months succumbed to acute kidney failure after consuming the syrups. Authorities in India during December said that their checks on Maiden’s cough syrup found them to be of “standard quality.”