Police arrest proprietor of drug firm linked to deaths of 21 kids in India

Indian police have arrested the proprietor of a pharmaceutical firm after a cough syrup made at his plant was linked to the deaths of a minimum of 21 kids, officers mentioned on Thursday.

Many of the kids, all aged below 5, died in Madhya Pradesh state over the previous month after they have been prescribed the syrup, which was contaminated with a lethal toxin.

Cough syrups manufactured in India have come below world scrutiny in recent times, with deaths linked to their consumption reported in a number of international locations, damaging its popularity because the third-largest producer of medicine and prescribed drugs by quantity.

G. Ranganathan, 75, was arrested early on Thursday morning at his dwelling in Chennai by police from the town and from Madhya Pradesh.

He was charged with culpable murder not amounting to homicide and adulteration of medicine, police sources instructed AFP and Indian media reported.

The cough syrup, bought below the model identify Coldrif, was manufactured by Sresan Pharma at a unit within the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The Indian well being ministry mentioned on Saturday checks on samples confirmed they have been contaminated with diethylene glycol (DEG), a poisonous substance utilized in industrial solvents that may be deadly even when ingested in small quantities.

Madhya Pradesh and a number of other different states have banned the product.

Indian media studies mentioned the World Well being Group had sought clarification from Indian officers about whether or not the poisonous cough syrup had been exported to different international locations.

Greater than 70 kids died in Gambia from acute kidney failure after consuming a cough syrup imported from India in 2022.

In Uzbekistan, 68 kids died between 2022 and 2023 after consuming one other contaminated syrup produced in India.

In January 2023, the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration partnered with the World Well being Group and different worldwide companions to research the supply of contaminated cough syrups that killed greater than 300 kids in Asia and Africa. 

India is the third-largest drug producer by quantity after the U.S. and China, in line with the Reuters information company.