Days after more than 20 children in Madhya Pradesh allegedly died from consuming contaminated cough syrup, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a health advisory, cautioning against the use of three particular cough syrups in India.
According to a report, the WHO has urged authorities to report to the health agency if they detect these cough syrups in their countries.
Tamil Nadu-based Sresan Pharmaceutical’s Coldrif, which is linked to the cough syrup deaths in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district, is also among the three medicines flagged by the WHO.
Respifresh TR from Rednex Pharmaceuticals and ReLife from Shape Pharma are the other two cough syrups the health agency has warned against.
In its advisory, the WHO said that the contaminated cough syrups can cause life-threatening illness.
The development comes after the death of over 20 children in Chhindwara were linked to contaminated Coldrif cough syrup.
The medicine reportedly contained nearly 500 times the permissible limit of toxic diethylene glycol.
The Tamil Nadu government has cancelled the licence of Coldrif manufacturer Sresan Pharmaceuticals. The pharma firm’s owner has already been arrested in connection with the children’s deaths.
Meanwhile, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization has informed the WHO that none of the contaminated batches of the cough medicine have been exported from India.
The US authorities have also reportedly confirmed that the contaminated syrups had not been shipped to the country.