Indian doctor arrested over cough syrup-linked deaths of children

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) — Police in India’s central Madhya Pradesh state have arrested a doctor over the deaths of 10 children allegedly linked to contaminated cough syrup, officials said Sunday.

The arrests follow reports that the children who died in Chhindwara district had consumed a locally sold cough syrup.

“We have arrested a doctor who had prescribed cough syrup to the maximum number of children who died,” Ajay Pandey, a senior police officer in the district, told reporters.

Pandey said laboratory tests found the toxic compound diethylene glycol (DEG) — known to cause fatal poisonings — above permissible limits in the syrup. “The manufacturing company has also been named in the case registered by the police,” he added.

Amid public outrage, the Madhya Pradesh government banned the sale of Coldrif syrup and other products from the same manufacturer.

“The sale of this syrup has been banned across the entire Madhya Pradesh. A ban is also being imposed on the sale of other products from the company that manufactures the syrup,” Chief Minister Mohan Yadav wrote on US social media company X.

India’s Health Ministry issued an advisory urging that cough and cold medicines not be prescribed to children under two years old.

Meanwhile, in Rajasthan state, authorities suspended a senior health official after he halted the distribution of 19 medicines when two children died and several others fell ill, allegedly after taking cough syrups, state broadcaster All India Radio reported.

India, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical producers, has faced repeated drug safety scandals. In 2023, regulators suspended the license of a company whose cough syrup was linked to the deaths of at least 19 children in Uzbekistan.