‘INERT CHEMICAL IN SYRUP MAY HAVE CAUSED KIDS’ DEATHS IN J&K’
UDHAMPUR DEATHS Nine children had died under mysterious circumstances since January, mostly due to renal failure; four admitted to PGIMER stable
CHANDIGARH: The syrup that allegedly caused death of nine children in Udhampur district of Jammu was found of standard quality by the drug and food control organisation of Jammu and Kashmir. However, a team of doctors at PGIMER has concluded that a pharmaceutically inert substance in the syrup may have caused the deaths.
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As per the standard practice, active medicine ingredients are checked, and in this case, there is a possibility that this harmful element was part of pharmaceutically inert substance, which are not part of routine testing procedures.
SENIOR DOCTOR OF PGIMER TEAM
CHANDIGARH: The syrup that allegedly caused death of nine children in Udhampur district of Jammu was found of standard quality by the drug and food control organisation of Jammu and Kashmir. However, a team of doctors at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PGIMER) has concluded that a pharmaceutically inert substance in the syrup may have caused the deaths.
The drug was tested only for the values of active ingredients in the Coldbest PC syrup (batch number DL5201), such as paracetamol, chlorpheniramine maleate, phenylephrine hydrochloride by the drug and food control organisation of Jammu and Kashmir, which were of standard quality.
Certificate of analysis by government analyst in Udhampur for the said batch reveals that samples on which tests were conducted were found as per the label claims of the manufacturer. The samples were received on January 18 and certificate was signed on January 23.
“According to the standard practice, active medicine ingredients are checked, and in this case, there is a possibility that this harmful chemical (diethylene glycol) was part of pharmaceutically inert substance, which are not part of routine testing procedures,” a senior doctor, who is part of the eightmember of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research team looking into the case, said.
Nine children had died since January, mostly due to renal failure, while four were admitted to PGIMER following which the Centre deputed a probe team of medical experts. PGIMER director Dr Jagat Ram said they have conveyed to the drug controller about the team’s findings.
“I have been told that the samples of all the medicines were collected and we have found some impurities (diethylene glycol) in them. We have conveyed this to the office of the drug controller of India,” Dr Ram said.
He said that four children, all below the age of four, from Udhampur district of Jammu who were admitted to PGIMER’s Advanced Paediatrics Centre are now in a stable condition. One of them has been discharged.
Narendra Ahooja, Haryana state drug controller, who raided the stockist of the firm in Haryana’s
Ambala, said that based on the reports from PGIMER, the samples for further testing have been sent to government agencies. “Another cause of impurity in this drug can be that the raw material was not properly checked when it was being used and it is difficult that material (diethylene glycol) will be detected in the final stage,” Ahooja said.
The stock-register lists that syrup was supplied to eight chemists in Haryana, five in Jammu and Kashmir, two in Dehradun and Baddi, each, among others.
Parshottam Goyal, managing director of Digital Vision Pharma that manufactured the syrup, said “there is no proof so far that the drug that caused deaths was our product”.
“We have provided the authorities all the documents and halted our production. We supplied the same syrup to five other states and received no adverse reports. Authorities should check all the angles. We are open to any inquiry on this issue,” Goyal said.