According to Uzbek Health Ministry, 18 children have died in Uzbekistan after consuming a medicinal syrup manufactured by Indian company “Marion” Biotech”.
The spokesperson of Ministry said, 18 out of 21 children took the Doc-1 Max Syrup while suffering from an acute respiratory died after consuming the syrup. The company website has mentioned that this syrup is used for cold and flu symptoms.
The ministry said that the syrup was imported into the country by Quramax Medical. According to them, the batch of syrup containing ethylene glycol, which they claim a toxic substance.
8 Children Have Died in Uzbekistan
It is also revealed that the children were given the said syrup without the doctor’s prescription, either by parents or on the advice of pharmacists. And the doses were exceeded the standard dose for children.
It was not immediately clear whether all or any of the children had consumed the suspect batch or had consumed more than the standard dose, or both.
Marion Biotech, Quramax Medical and India’s Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment. An Indian government source told Reuters the Health Ministry was looking into the matter.
On the other side, Indian authorities have started investigation and drug inspection across the country to ensure highly quality standards.
It pertinent to mention here that Uzbek incident is similar to the incident of Gambia where 70 children were died after consuming of Indian made cough and cold syrups. Both company and the Indian’s government have denied the medicines were at fault.
Indian is famous as the “pharmacy of the world” and their pharmaceuticals exports have more than doubled over the past decade up to $24.5 billion in the last fiscal year.
As of now, the health ministry of Uzbekistan had dismissed seven of their employees for negligence for not analyzing the deaths in the timely manner and not taking the appropriate measures. It is mentioned that they had taken disciplinary measures against some “specialists” without mentioning their roles.
For precautionary measures, the Doc-1 Max tablets and syrups from all pharmacies have been withdrawn.
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