Haryana begins probe, sends samples to lab

New Delhi: India's drug regulator has initiated a probe and sought further details from the WHO after the global health body issued an alert that cough syrups manufactured by an Indian firm could potentially be linked to the death of children in Gambia. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday warned that four "contaminated" and "substandard" cough syrups allegedly produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited based in Haryana's Sonepat could be the reason for the deaths in the West African nation.

Haryana's Health Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said samples of four cough syrups manufactured by the firm have been sent to the Central Drugs Laboratory in Kolkata for examination. "The samples have been collected by a team of the DCGA and Haryana's Food and Drugs Administration Department and sent to the CDL, Kolkata for examination," Vij told said. He said a senior official of Centre's Department of Pharmaceuticals spoke with Haryana's Additional Chief Secretary (Health). Vij said the cough syrups manufactured by the pharma company were approved for export. "It is not available for sale or marketing in the country," Vij said.

Government sources had said the exact "one-to-one causal relation of death" has neither been provided by the UN health agency nor the details of labels and products been shared by it with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), enabling it to confirm the identity or source of the manufacturing of the products.