New Delhi: Samples of the cough syrup manufactured by a Noida-based firm Marion Biotech that Uzbekistan has linked to the deaths of 18 children in the country have been sent for testing, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the health ministry of Uzbekistan said in a press release that the 18 children who died had used the anti-cold medication Dok 1 Max Syrup made by Marion Biotech.
The children who died had consumed 2.5 milliliters to 5 milliliters of the cough syrup at home three to four times a day, which was higher than the standard dose of the drug, the Uzbekistan health ministry said. Following the deaths, tablets and cough syrups of Dok 1 have been withdrawn from sale in all pharmacies of the country, the statement said.
On Thursday, Mandaviya said that India’s drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, is in touch with its Uzbek counterpart.
Officials of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and the Uttar Pradesh Drug Control have also carried out a joint inspection of Marion Biotech’s Noida facility, the health minister said. Samples of the cough syrup Dok 1 Max have been sent to the Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory in Chandigarh for testing, he added in a series of tweets.
Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday, Marion Biotech said that it has stopped manufacturing the Dok 1 Max cough syrup, ANI reported. The company’s legal department head Hasan Harris told the news agency that the company regretted the deaths of children in Uzbekistan.
Speaking to PTI, he claimed that there were no problems on Marion Biotech’s part in testing the cough syrup.
“We have been there [Uzbekistan] for the past ten years,” Harris said. “Once the government report will come, we will look into it. For now the manufacturing has stopped.”
MEA backs Indian pharmaceutical industry
Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi asserted at a press conference that Indian pharmaceutical industry has been a reliable supplier of medicines across the globe, reported ANI.
“We take these incidents very seriously when they come up,” Bagchi said when asked about the children’s deaths in Uzbekistan. Besides the incident in Uzbekistan, children deaths in The Gambia were also linked to cough syrups made in India. India-made cough syrup
The spokesperson also said that the ministry was extending support to Indian citizens who are facing legal action from the Uzbek government after the deaths. India-made cough syrup
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