MP officials probed for weeks to trace cause of cough syrup deaths: Report

The Madhya Pradesh government has imposed an immediate statewide ban on Coldrif and ordered all other products from Sresan Pharmaceuticals to be tested.

At least 14 children under the age of five have died in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district after consuming a cough syrup later found to be contaminated with diethylene glycol, a poisonous industrial chemical. The deaths, reported from early September, have sparked a major pharmaceutical safety investigation across multiple states.

The first fatality was reported on September 2, when four-year-old Shivam died from acute kidney failure. Over the following weeks, several more children, Vidhi (3), Adnan (5), Usaid (4), Rishika (5), and Shreya (2), also died under similar circumstances, according to an Indian Express report.

District officials initially investigated likely environmental causes, including contaminated water, rodent-borne diseases, and mosquito-borne infections, but all tests came back negative, states the report.

Postmortems were not conducted due to parental refusal, further delaying the determination of the precise cause.

However, on September 18, a breakthrough occurred when doctors in Nagpur confirmed that the deaths were due to acute renal failure.

The death of another child, Vikas (5), prompted renal biopsies that revealed severe damage to the nephrons, indicating chemical toxicity, further states the report.

“We suspected cough syrup contamination, similar to the 2022 Gambia incident,” Parasia SDM Vikas Kumar Yadav states, as cited by the Indian Express, referring to deaths linked to Indian-made syrups overseas.

Investigations by the Madhya Pradesh Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) traced the source to Coldrif cough syrup, manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. Laboratory tests at Chennai’s Drug Testing Laboratory found 48.6 percent diethylene glycol, a highly toxic chemical used in antifreeze and brake fluids.

The syrup was declared “Not of Standard Quality” and “adulterated”.

Authorities discovered that 660 bottles of Coldrif had been shipped to Chhindwara, of which 594 were sold and 66 seized. Sixteen samples were sent for further testing, while the remaining stock was frozen and removed from sale.

Following this, the Madhya Pradesh government imposed an immediate statewide ban on Coldrif and ordered all other products from Sresan Pharmaceuticals to be tested. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has described the deaths as “extremely tragic” and announced Rs 4 lakh compensation for each affected family.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has launched risk-based inspections at 19 pharmaceutical units across six states, covering cough syrup and antibiotic manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Drug Control has also banned Coldrif.

At least four child deaths have been reported in Rajasthan, allegedly linked to cough syrups containing dextromethorphan. In response, the Rajasthan government has banned all syrups containing the ingredient and suspended 19 medicines produced by Kaysons Pharma, pending further investigation.

In the meantime, authorities in Parasia have launched a door-to-door health survey, covering nearly 25,000 children under five. Of 4,658 children screened for fever, cough, and vomiting, 4,411 tested normal, according to SDM Yadav.

Samples from deceased children have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, while a team of experts from ICMR, AIIMS-Nagpur, NEERI, and CDSCO continues to investigate the deaths and trace potential contamination sources.