The health authorities of the African country detected an increase in cases of acute renal failure among children under 5 years of age who had consumed cough syrup
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert on Wednesday about four Indian-made cough syrups that could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in Gambia. As explained by the director general of the agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the marketing company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, based in New Delhi, did not provide sufficient security guarantees.
The WHO identified the drugs as promethazine oral solution, Kofexmalin infant cough syrup, Makoff-branded cough syrup, and Magrip N cold syrup. All four products were identified in The Gambia, but “may have been distributed through informal markets to other countries or regions,” added the WHO in the
alert posted on your website.
The WHO intervention came after Gambian medical authorities detected an increase in cases of acute kidney failure among children under 5 in late July. The Gambian government has since discontinued the use of all paracetamol syrups and has urged people to take the drug in pill form instead. The number of deaths has decreased since the ban, but two more have been recorded in the last two weeks.
The Indian authorities have also launched an investigation, Reuters reported yesterday, citing two sources from the Ministry of Health. The Indian government has asked the WHO to make public the evidence linking the deaths of minors to medicines manufactured in the country and has stated that it will take “all the steps that the situation requires.”
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