NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (NNN-PTI) – The World Health Organisation (WHO), has issued an alert about three contaminated cough syrups identified in India, urging health authorities around the world, to report any detection of these medicines in their countries, to the global health body.
According to the alert on Monday, the contaminated oral liquid medicines have been identified to be specific batches of Coldrif, Respifresh TR and ReLife, manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceutical, Rednex Pharmaceuticals, and Shape Pharma.
The global health body said, these contaminated products pose significant risks to patients and can cause severe and potentially life-threatening illness.
The global health body said, health-care professionals should report the detection of these substandard products, and any incident of adverse effects, or lack of expected effects, to their National Regulatory Authorities or National Pharmacovigilance Centre.
Indian authorities in Tamil Nadu on Monday revoked the manufacturing licence of the Sresan Pharmaceutical company, manufacturer of Coldrif, and ordered its shutdown. The cough syrup has been found adulterated with over 45 percent of diethylene glycol, a toxic industrial solvent.
While 24 deaths related to the cough syrup have been confirmed in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, three have been reported in the western state of Rajasthan.
The children, mostly under the age of five, died in the past month due to suspected renal failure after developing complications, following the consumption of Coldrif.– NNN-PTI
