Congress demands action against Uzbekistan's cough syrup deaths claim

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday slammed the Centre and demanded the "strictest" action against the Uzbekistan government's claim that 18 children died in the Central Asian nation after consuming cough syrup made by an Indian manufacturer.

Taking to Twitter, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said: "Made in India cough syrups seem to be deadly. First it was the deaths of 70 kids in Gambia & now it is that of 18 children in Uzbekistan. Modi Sarkar must stop boasting about India being a pharmacy to the world & take strictest action."

In a statement, the Uzbek Health Ministry had said that "18 out of 21 children with acute respiratory disease have died as a result of taking Doc-1 Max syrup manufactured by the Indian company Marion Biotech Pvt Ltd".

The Ministry further alleged that the victims "took this drug at home for 2-7 days 3-4 times a day, 2.5-5 ml, which exceeds the standard dose of the drug for children" before they were hospitalised.

The Centre is yet to respond to the allegation.

In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued an alert for four "contaminated" India-made medicines, chiefly for paediatric use, identified in the west African nation of The Gambia and found to contain chemicals that were toxic and potentially fatal after 66 child deaths.

The four medicines -- cough and cold syrups -- were produced by the Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited.