Thread by @_southasiatimes

#SAT Analytics✨

Indian Cough Syrup Scandal- A 🧵

In July last year, over 20 children with kidney failure were hospitalized in the pediatric emergency unit of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in #Gambia.

Later, almost everyone passed away.

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Doctors, who typically see one or two instances like this each year, were perplexed.

The #Gambian health ministry authorities believed the issue was contaminated water as it was the rainy season. Nonetheless, several specialists thought the children had been poisoned.

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Three months later, global health experts linked the deaths of more than 70 #Gambian children from Acute Kidney Injury to cough syrups manufactured in #India that were contaminated with ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG).

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The patients were the first of around 300 kids who died last year from tainted cough syrups—not all of them made in #India—around the world. In terms of the total number of deaths caused by toxins, it was the deadliest poisoning ever recorded.

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The tests, which were carried out with assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO), revealed the medications had been supplied in bottles that were falsely labeled as WHO-approved and contained extremely unsafe quantities of the toxins.

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Afterward, the #WHO released a Medical Product Alert citing four substandard products that were discovered in The #Gambia and reported to the WHO. These items' stated manufacturer was Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited (Haryana, #India).

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The company had not given #WHO any assurances about the quality & safety of these items, the notice said.

Additionally, it mentioned that these four goods had been discovered in #Gambia but might have found their way through informal markets to other countries or regions.

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After the WHO's alert on the drugs in #Gambia was widely covered by the media, #India's drug regulator wrote to the WHO to explain that the drug samples "were not found to have been contaminated" and that its statement had damaged the reputation of Indian pharmaceuticals.

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The letter recalled a dispute between the Indian government and the #WHO on the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 in #India.

Contrary to the govt's support of the industry, certain public health specialists have consistently raised concerns about insufficient regulation.

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The uproar had barely subsided when, in December, a syrup manufactured by #Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd caused at least 18 child deaths in #Uzbekistan due to acute respiratory disease.

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#India is regarded as the "pharmacy of the world," and its pharmaceutical exports have more than doubled in the last ten years, reaching $24.5 billion in 2021–2022.

The industry provides almost half of the generic medications used in #Africa.

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According to a group of experts from the #Gambia & the #US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the #Gambian case may be the first known instance of DEG poisoning caused by an imported drug as opposed to one that was produced locally.

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The incident, according to the experts, demonstrates the challenges confronted by a nation with limited resources in identifying and disposing of dangerous products.

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