A four-year-old child’s death has added to the list of more than 24 children dying in September-October last year following the consumption of Coldrif cough syrup, which was found to contain a highly poisonous compound that causes renal failure.
The most recent death is of a child from Madhya Pradesh, who had been comatose after falling critically ill due to the alleged intake of the cough syrup, officials said. He died in AIIMS Nagpur.
Harsh, from Tikabarri village in MP’s Betul district bordering Chhindwara, had been in a coma for more than four months and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital in Nagpur, where he died during treatment on Sunday night, an official said on Monday.
Betul’s Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), Dr. Manoj Hurmade, confirmed the child’s death and said the post-mortem examination was conducted in Nagpur on Monday, after which the body was handed over to the family.
The exact cause of death would be ascertained after the post-mortem report, he said.
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Harsh’s uncle, Shyam Yadav, said the child was undergoing treatment under Dr. S S Thakur in Parasia, Chhindwara. His condition had deteriorated after consuming the cough syrup prescribed by Dr. Thakur. The child remained admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for months, his uncle said.
Harsh’s last rites were performed on Monday evening, he informed.
In October last year, several children in Parasia town of Chhindwara district fell ill after consuming Coldrif cough syrup, with complaints of vomiting, inability to urinate and fever. Investigations showed the syrup contained diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical that causes kidney failure.
Following the deaths of several children from Chhindwara and Betul districts, the Drug Controller General of India had also conducted a probe into the matter. Subsequently, the company owner and a government doctor who recommended the syrup were arrested in the case.
In the first week of October, the Madhya Pradesh government banned the sale of the cough syrup. Later, samples of the syrup were tested in Chennai and declared “Not of Standard Quality” by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Drug Control, officials said.
The Tamil Nadu drug control authorities, in their report dated October 2, declared the Coldrif syrup sample manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals, Kancheepuram, as adulterated because it contained 48.8 per cent diethylene glycol, a poisonous substance “which may render the contents injurious to health”.
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