After cough syrup tragedy, MP hospital under lens over 'worms' in medicine

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Amid child deaths linked to a toxic cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh, a government hospital in Gwalior is now facing a complaint over worms allegedly found in a bottle of antibiotic medicine given to a child, officials said on Thursday.

Following a complaint by a woman whose child was given the medicine, the entire stock of Azithromycin antibiotic at the government hospital in Morar town of Gwalior district has been sealed and samples have been sent to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing, they said.

Azithromycin antibiotic's oral suspension is commonly given to children for various infections. According to officials, the medicine was generic and manufactured by a Madhya Pradesh-based company.

Drug inspector Anubhuti Sharma said, "A woman at the government hospital in Morar complained of worms in a bottle of Azithromycin oral suspension." Although the bottle of medicine that the woman had brought was open, the matter was immediately investigated, she said.

All 306 bottles of this medicine, which had been distributed and stored at the hospital in Morar, have been recalled and seized, the official said.

A preliminary inspection of some of the medicine bottles revealed no signs of insects, but testing is necessary, she said.

Some of the bottles have been sent to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing. A sample of this medicine will also be sent to the Central Drug Laboratory in Kolkata, Sharma said.

Notably, 24 children from Chhindwara district in MP have died due to suspected renal failure caused by the consumption of the adulterated Coldrif cough syrup.

The tragedy prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to issue an alert against three "substandard" oral cough syrups identified in India -- Coldrif, Respifresh TR and ReLife.