The government criticised WHO for failing to provide evidence to support its claim that four cough and cold syrups made by the Indian company Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd were to blame for the deaths of 66 children in the Gambia. The government announced that samples of the four products had been found to be of standard quality.
India claimed that tests performed at a government laboratory had revealed that all control samples of the four products were in compliance with specifications in a communication made on December 13 to the World Health Organization (WHO), which had issued a medical product alert linking the drugs in question with the deaths of children in the Gambia.
Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) suggested to WHO that the Geneva-based organisation had rushed to conclusions about India-made products being responsible for the deaths in Gambia without having enough basis. DCGI cited the results of the tests which found the cold and cough syrups manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd to be safe.
None of the four drugs potentially linked to the death of 66 children in Gambia are being sold in India currently, the Union health ministry has clarified. It claimed that references to the deaths of children were included in the alerts and communications that were received from the start of the terrible occurrence in the Gambia, and that they were written in a way that suggested that cough syrup use was the main cause of the mortality.
On October 5, WHO had issued a medical product alert which stated that the four drugs being supplied to Gambia by Maiden Pharma were of substandard quality. It also issued an alert that claimed the products were linked to the death of many children in Gambia. The four products are: Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.