Tanzania to inspect existence of killer syrups in local stores

Dar es Salaam. Authorities in Tanzania have launched a special inspection on the presence of cough syrups in the local market that have killed 66 children in The Gambia.

The inspection comes following the World Health Organization (WHO) alert that killer cough syrups have been identified in the West African tiny nation.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Aifello Sichalwe told Mwananchi yesterday that the cough syrups were manufactured by India-based Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited.

“I’ve communicated to the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) which is mandated for the medicine and medical equipment registration. They have told me that the said medicines are not in the country,” he assured.

But, on Wednesday, WHO said the cough and cold syrups manufactured by the Indian firm were behind the death of dozens of young children in The Gambia from acute kidney injuries.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued the statement when announcing the findings of tests on several medicinal syrups that were suspected of causing 66 child deaths in the West African country.

He told reporters that the UN agency was conducting an investigation with Indian regulators and the syrups manufacturing company.

The company declined to comment, while calls and messages to the Drugs Controller General of India went unanswered.

The WHO issued a medical product alert on Wednesday asking regulators to remove Maiden Pharma goods from the market.

The products may have been distributed elsewhere through informal markets, but had so far been identified only in Gambia, the WHO said in its alert.

The alert covers four products, namely, Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.

Lab analysis confirmed “unacceptable” amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which can be toxic and lead to acute kidney injury, the WHO said.

Medical officers in The Gambia raised the alarm in July, after dozens of children began falling ill with kidney problems. The deaths confounded medics before a pattern emerged: dozens of patients younger than five were falling ill three to five days after taking a locally sold paracetamol syrup.

The Gambia’s health services director Mustapha Bittaye said similar problems had been detected in other syrups but that the ministry was awaiting confirmation of the results.

He said the number of deaths had tapered off in recent weeks and that the sale of products made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals was banned. However, until recently, some of the syrups were still being sold in private clinics and in hospitals, he said.

The Gambia’s Medicines Control Agency sent a letter on Tuesday to health professionals ordering them to stop selling any of the products listed by WHO.

Maiden Pharmaceuticals manufactures medicines at its facilities in India, which it then sells domestically as well as exporting them to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to its website.