Tamil Nadu has banned the sale of Coldrif cough syrup after reports linked the medicine to the deaths of children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. A Tamil Nadu Department of Drugs Control sources told media on Friday that the state has banned the sale of Coldrif cough syrup following reports linking it to child deaths in both states.
The State Drug Authority is conducting an inquiry into the incident. The source mentioned above said blood reports of nearly 500 people tested by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have come back negative for any infectious disease in the area.
The NCDC on October 1 said that it has collected water and entomological drug samples from hospitals and other sites in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where multiple children have died of kidney failure following alleged consumption of contaminated cough syrup.
Nine children have died in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara following alleged consumption of the tainted medicines due to kidney failure. In Rajasthan three children died. Two children died in Rajasthan’s Sikar while one died in Bharatpur.
What Is The Madhya Pradesh Govt’s Stand
The district administration banned 2 cough syrups Coldrif and Nextro-DS following the deaths. The Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Rajendra Shukla said that preliminary findings show no contamination in the syrup, claiming, “These deaths did not occur due to the cough syrup for sure," ahead of the examination report on Wednesday, with samples sent to laboratories in Nagpur and Pune for analysis.
Shukla further added that the state government is awaiting Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) report before confirming reason. He added that the state government formed a committee of inquiry and is monitoring development closely.
When asked about banning the cough syrup, the minister added, “The matter of the cough syrup is baseless, and these deaths did not occur due to the cough syrup for sure."
The Rajasthan government said that it has formed a committee and warned that it will not spare anyone responsible for the deaths. Rajasthan Home Minister Jawahar Bedam said that a committee was formed to probe the matter. The state government gave clean chit to the doctors over the incident.
A separate statement released by the Rajasthan Health Department on Thursday clarified that the recent deaths of two children in Bharatpur and Sikar districts were not caused by cough syrup distributed under the state’s free medicine scheme.
Public Health Director Ravi Prakash Sharma said inquiry reports confirmed that in both cases, the children were administered the syrup at home without a doctor’s advice.
As per protocol, Dextromethorphan (DXM) drug is not prescribed to children, Sharma said in the statement released on Thursday and added that in both incidents, the doctors had not prescribed the drug.
Health Minister Gajendra Singh had earlier ordered a probe into the matter after reports of poor-quality cough syrup surfaced.
Following the order, the Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation Limited (RMSCL) halted the supply and use of the drug, formed a three-member inquiry committee and sent some samples for testing at the state drug laboratory.
However, in the case from Sikar, where the child was wrongly prescribed a cough syrup containing the drug DXM, the Health Department initiated suspension proceedings against the doctor and pharmacist concerned for violating protocol.
Several children in Rajasthan reportedly fell ill after consuming a cough syrup, with symptoms ranging from vomiting and drowsiness to loss of consciousness.
Amid the panic, a local doctor, Dr Tarachand Yogi, attempted to prove the medicine was safe by drinking it himself. However, he too fainted shortly afterwards, raising fresh concerns over the safety of the syrup.
Source: News18