Indian police have arrested the owner of a pharmaceutical company that manufactured cough syrup that killed at least 17 children in India.
Ranganathan Govindan, who runs Tamil Nadu-based Sresan Pharmaceuticals, was detained by Madhya Padhya Pradesh state police in Chennai on Wednesday night.
Police in Madhya Pradesh were looking for Ranganathan after at least 17 children under the age of five died in the past month after allegedly consuming Coldleaf cough medicine made by his company.
indian cough syrup horror
India’s health ministry said Coldrif’s test samples contained diethylene glycol (DEG), a highly toxic industrial solvent.
The cough syrup was banned on October 2 after tests confirmed the presence of the chemical.
A report from the Tamil Nadu drug control department found that the cough syrup was manufactured under unhygienic factory conditions.
According to Indian media reports, initial investigations revealed that in addition to Madhya Pradesh, cough medicine was also supplied to the states of Odisha and Puducherry.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the state government would take criminal action against Sresan Pharmaceuticals.
Indian health officials have also asked people to avoid Respifresh and RELIFE syrups made by companies based in the state of Gujarat.
The product was found to contain the same toxic chemicals.
WHO says there are gaps in cough syrup testing in India.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that India had ‘regulatory gaps’ in testing syrup medicines sold locally, Reuters reported.
“WHO expresses deep concern about these developments and highlights regulatory gaps in DEG/EG testing in India for medicines sold domestically,” Reuters quoted a UN health agency spokesperson as saying.
WHO said it had received confirmation from India that none of the contaminated syrup had been exported, according to Reuters.
However, the news agency added that caution was advised as there is a possibility that some unofficial exports may occur.
Editor: Sean Sinico
