Cough syrup row: MP man sold auto, spent over Rs 4 lakh, yet failed to save son

MP cough syrup tragedy

For families in MP's Chhindwara, compensation of Rs 4 lakh cannot heal the pain of losing a child. Fourteen children have died after consuming Coldrif cough syrup, leaving parents devastated and grappling with the loss.

The Madhya Pradesh government has announced Rs 4 lakh compensation for each child and promised to bear the full cost of treatment for those still hospitalised. But for the families, no amount of money can replace the lives they have lost.

Yasin Khan, a 30-year-old auto driver in Parasia, lost his three-year-old son. “After the first few doses, my son started vomiting. His eyes swelled up, his urine stopped, and he began crying in pain. We rushed him to Chhindwara, then to Nagpur. Doctors there said his kidneys were failing,” Yasin was quoted by NDTV as saying.

Yasin sold his only means of livelihood, his auto-rickshaw, and spent over Rs 4 lakh on his son’s treatment. "I thought if I could save him, I could buy another auto someday," Yasin said. "But now there's no child, no work, and no hope".

As if fate had not been cruel enough, while his son was hospitalised, heavy rain caused the roof of their house to collapse. “We came home with his body. Everything was gone, the roof, the money, and our son,” NDTV quoted the three-year-old’s mother as saying.

'We mortgaged our farm, pawned jewellery'

For Prakash Yaduvanshi, grief came with the added burden of financial loss. His seven-year-old son, Devansh, fell ill after consuming the syrup. Already struggling with health issues, Prakash is a paralytic patient, and his wife has pending operations, the family spent Rs 7 lakh on treatment, mortgaging their small farm, pawning jewellery, and borrowing from relatives.

“When my son fell sick, I thought it was just a cold. But the doctor gave him the syrup, and his condition got worse and worse," he said.

“Devansh could neither eat nor drink for 15 days. The first dialysis lasted one-and-a-half hours, then three, then five. But he was slipping away,” his wife recalled.

Despite the family’s efforts, Devansh died. “We have nothing left now,” Prakash said. The family plans to approach the High Court seeking justice.

In Betul district’s Amla block, another child, four-year-old Kabir, lost his life on September 8. His father, Kamlesh, a small farmer, took Kabir to Dr Praveen Soni after a mild cough. The doctor prescribed Coldrif Syrup.

By the time Kabir was referred to other hospitals and diagnosed with kidney failure, it was too late. He was transferred from Nagpur to Bhopal, but he died during treatment. “I mortgaged my land for Rs 2.5 lakh. I thought money could save him. But money ran out before his breath did,” Kamlesh said.