UP drug officials collect syrup samples after 18 children die in Uzbekistan

New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 29, 2022 13:10 IST

The syrup is not sold in India

By Milan Sharma, Rahul Gautam: Officials inspected the manufacturing facility of the cough syrup that has killed at least 18 children in Uzbekistan till late in the night and collected the Dok-1 Max cough syrup samples from the plant, sources told India Today TV.

The samples have been sent for contamination testing as was done when 70 children were killed in The Gambia earlier this year.

The Centre is likely to hold an inter-departmental meeting at the health ministry today.

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“We have stopped the manufacture and export (of cough syrup). Two days back, officials of the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Control came and collected samples. It’s an unfortunate incident and a probe is on,” said Hasan Harris, the legal representative of Marion Biotech - the manufacturer of the syrup.

The Centre earlier sought a causality status after Uzbekistan on Wednesday linked the deaths of the 18 children to an India-made cough syrup, sources said.

The health ministry of Uzbekistan has alleged that 18 children died in the country after consuming medicines manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical company, months after a similar incident was reported in Gambia. The company in question, Marion Biotech, was registered in 2012 in Uzbekistan.

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In a statement, the Uzbekistan health ministry said that the children who died had consumed the Dok-1 Max syrup produced by Noida-based Marion Biotech. To date, 18 out of 21 children with acute respiratory disease have died as a result of taking the syrup, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, sources at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) said that this particular syrup is currently not being sold in the Indian market.

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