New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an alert warning against the use of two Indian cough syrups blamed for the deaths of at least 20 children in Uzbekistan.
The WHO said the products, manufactured by India’s Marion Biotech, were “substandard” and that the firm had failed to provide guarantees about their “safety and quality.”
The WHO alert said an analysis of the syrup samples by the quality control laboratories of Uzbekistan found “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and /or ethylene glycol as contaminants.”
There has been no response from the company on the WHO alert. Its website has been taken down. The UN body health alert said, the samples in question were tested by the ‘national quality control laboratories’ at the behest of Uzbekistan’s health authorities.
The alert said, “To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products”.
The WHO has warned that the two products might have had market approvals in other countries or have been supplied through informal markets. “It is important to detect and remove these substandard products from circulation to prevent harm to patients,” the WHO alert said.
It asked drug regulators across the world to increase surveillance of these products in their respective markets.
Despite the warning echoed around the world, Indian substandard pharma products have been sold under the pretext of being cost effective making vulnerable huge strata of patients relied on Indian medicines.
These incidents lay true picture and fragility of Indian Industrialization based on inefficient and substandard products being distributed without taking into account the adverse reactions associated with these products.
This also exposes the claims of India self-branding as “World’s Pharmacy”. World Health Organization, US Food and Drug Administration etc must take strict notice of the criminal negligence of Indian companies and apart from banning Indian products cases must be registered in ICJ to take the perpetrators to task.
Indian Pharmaceutical products if not stopped immediately and a proper quality / standard not ensured. This may lead to more deaths and catastrophic incidents in future.
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