Families of Gambia Cough Syrup Victims: Families of children who lost their lives due to alleged contaminated cough syrups in The Gambia are angry with the Indian pharmaceutical company Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Some families are planning to take action against the company. A family said that how can a company sell contaminated medicine, it is murder. In fact, 69 children died recently in The Gambia due to kidney problems, but their deaths are being linked to cough syrups manufactured in India.
Haryana-based Medan Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is alleged to have introduced contaminated drugs into the Gambia market, which resulted in the death of children. Recently, the World Health Organization had issued a medical alert regarding cough syrup made by Medan Pharma. At the same time, the Government of India and the State Government have also taken strict steps against the company. Recently, due to investigation, the production of Medan Pharma was completely banned in Sonepat, Haryana. The investigation so far has revealed that the company had used a substance with an expiry date to make the medicine.
The father who lost a one and a half year old child gave a statement
According to the Indian Express, the families of the victims of The Gambia expressed their anguish and displeasure. The 69 children included two-year-old five-month-old Mohd Lamin Kijera and one year and seven-month-old Musa, who died suddenly due to kidney stroke. These children had also consumed Meden Pharma’s cough syrup. Kamaso, who lost the child, said, “I came to know about the problem when a policeman came and asked about Musa’s death. How can a company sell bad drugs? They should have thoroughly tested the drugs before launching them in the market. It’s murder!”
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Musa was the youngest of Kamaso’s five children – four sons and one daughter. He passed away on 1st September last. By the time of Musa’s death, the number of children suffering from kidney problems had increased in Gambia’s hospitals. This was attributed to Medan Pharma’s cough syrup prescribed for fever, cough and cold for children’s kidney problems.
Hospital prescribed medicines of private pharmacy
Kamaso told that Musa had fever in the last week of August. When he was taken to a nearby hospital, doctors told him malaria. He wrote such medicines which were found outside medical stores. Medicines were bought from private pharmacies. After four days, Musa’s urination stopped. He also had problems with diarrhea and vomiting. When he was brought to the hospital on Saturday morning, from there he was referred to a bigger hospital.
Kamaso, who runs a small business in Banjul, said doctors were unable to figure out what the problem was. Eventually Moses was admitted to the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, about half an hour away from home. Tests revealed that the child’s kidney had failed. Doctors put Musa on dialysis but his condition kept deteriorating. “I called his mother and told her to be prepared for the bad consequences,” said Kamaso, sitting in a tin-roofed house in Tallingdin, behind a red bike, which was Moses’ favourite.
Two and a half year old Lamin died like this
The Kijera family lives at a distance of four kilometers. His father, Eliu Kijera, who lost two years and five months old Mohamed Lamin Kijera, told that by the end of July the child had started getting regular low grade fever. This happened once before as well. When Lamin was shown to a nearby hospital, he was asked to take a syrup and some medicines. By five o’clock in the evening the condition of the child had deteriorated. A few days later, on August 4, Lamine, almost two and a half years old, died.
Kijera, who lives in the Gambia city of Latrikunda, works as a nurse in a local hospital. Kijera said that by 5 pm the same day, Lamin was again taken to the hospital after his condition deteriorated, where he was given a bottle. When the child got relief, he was brought home. Lamin was fine for the next few days but one day his urination stopped. He was again taken to the hospital, where doctors told him to undergo a kidney test.
Lamin was involved in the first five cases
According to Kijera, after the test, the doctors told that Lamin’s kidney has been damaged and he will be on dialysis. Doctors referred the child to the country’s largest hospital, Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. There too, when the child’s condition deteriorated, he was referred to the hospital in Dakar in the neighboring capital Senegal. The child went through an emergency dialysis procedure but died a week later.
On the wall of the house hangs a picture of Lamin with two older sisters, sitting on a brown sofa, Kijera said, “My son was one of the first five cases of kidney problems in the country. At that time the doctors did not know what was happening. Like Lamin, three more children out of four who were referred to the hospital in Banjul, died before us.” The families of Lamin, Musa and other children who lost their lives have formed a WhatsApp group and Haryana We are planning to file a case against the company.